Mini heads off on We Do Care Child Cancer fundraiser

Mike and Lynne Budden ready for their "We Do Care" Mini trip to raise funds for the Child Cancer Foundation.

By Dave Murdoch

When a family member in Queensland Australia contracted cancer at the age of 3 and then recovered after intensive care Mike and Lynne Budden of Papatawa decided the New Zealand Child Cancer Foundation was an organisation they wanted to support.

They said, "Everyone seems to know or has someone close to them that has been through the heart-wrenching journey of radiation/chemo/grief/recovery and anxiety.

"We want to be able to help in some small way to make a difference to someone's care during this time be it the children or family members. To see some of these children still smiling during their treatments is truly an inspiration to us all."

They started by selling firewood and then Mike built a shed for a friend and as a finale for 2020 they ran an auction in their workshop which was massively supported by local businesses and raised $10,000.

Now in 2021 they are off in an Austin Mini to travel from Cape Reinga to the Bluff on a fundraising drive emulating the trip featured in Goodbye Pork Pie.

The 30-year-old mini has been a seven-year project to restore for Mike – a mechanic by trade – and he feels it will make the trip.

He has built a trailer to carry the car to Cape Reinga and return it from Bluff, towed by sister Lu in the campervan which will be their home for the nine-day journey. At the end of the trip the trailer will be sold for more funds.

While the couple will be collecting on tour they hope people who would like to support their cause to donate to the We Do Care Child Cancer Fundraiser Account 03 0614 0563414 001, putting your name as a reference.

They will be dropping into the Windfarm Café in Woodville on Monday, February 15 about 11am to catch up with friends and supporters and report progress.

Mike and Lynne are not daunted by the magnitude of their adventure.

They say, "It is only a small drop in the ocean compared with what these brave children that are diagnosed go through."