Volunteers are the life blood of the Cancer Society, helping to run numerous fundraisers for different events, including Daffodil Day - photo supplied by the Horowhenua Vintage Car Club
Volunteers are the life blood of the Cancer Society, helping to run numerous fundraisers for different events, including Daffodil Day - photo supplied by the Horowhenua Vintage Car Club
What do vintage cars, cupcakes and daffodils have in common?
They're all part of Daffodil Day, which takes place every August to raise money to enable the Cancer Society to continue to support people on their cancer journeys.
Although the official appeal day for this annual event is the last Friday in August, a number of community-based groups run fundraising events before that date.
"The Cancer Society is our communities ... without their support we wouldn't have a Daffodil Day," said Jennie Wylie, who is the Levin-based Supportive Care co-ordinator for the Manawatū branch of the organisation.
Yummy cakes on the menu at Summerset's Daffodil Day lunch fundraiser.
"Our local schools and kindergartens have gold-coin fundraising days ... Summerset and Masonic retirement villages put on Daffodil Day-themed lunches and afternoon teas," she said.
There are also local daffodil flower suppliers such as Levin farmers John and Jenny Brown, who have grown a field of daffodils to donate to the cancer appeal every year for the past 21 years.
The Manawatū centre also organised a cupcake fundraiser through its Facebook page to huge success.
About 2700 yummy cupcakes were delivered to more than 230 hungry households and businesses in Palmerston North, Dannevirke, Feilding and Levin last Friday morning.
2700 fundraising cupcakes were delivered in Palmerston North, Dannevirke, Feilding and Levin last Friday as part of the Daffodil Day appeal - photo supplied by Manawatu Centre.
The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand has been hosting the national Daffodil Rally for Cancer since 2017, with clubs from the Far North through to Southland holding club events to fundraise for the Cancer Society.
In Levin, the Horowhenua Vintage Car Club is hosting a "Show and Shine" in the New World car park this Sunday, August 22, from 9.30am to 1.30pm.
Local volunteers will be there running raffles, firing up sausage sizzles and shaking donation buckets, while the community checks out some quality vintage cars.
Wylie said the society could not function without the large number of volunteers who help out with all their fundraising activities.
The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand is a major supporter of Daffodil Day, organising events up and down the country, including a Show & Shine in Levin - photo supplied by HVCC.
In the Manawatū area alone, there are at least 400 volunteers who step up when required.
The impact of Covid-19 on fundraising efforts in 2020 was huge, and the Cancer Society is extremely grateful to its major sponsor, ANZ, for all its support, including a massive donation of $500,000.
This year Daffodil Day is on Friday August 27, although local volunteers will be set up in the Levin Mall from Wednesday August 25 to take donations.
Each year 25,000 people are diagnosed with cancer and 10,000 people die of cancer-related illnesses; four in every 10 people will develop cancer before the age of 74; Māori are twice as likely to die from cancer than non- Māori; the risk factors that increase the chance of developing cancer include obesity, tobacco and alcohol use, UV radiation (too much sun) and lack of physical activity; The most common diagnosed cancers are breast, lung, prostrate and bowel.
