Wairarapa alcohol lovers bold enough to abstain for a whole month can help ease the suffering of adult cancer patients as part of the second annual Dry July campaign.
Last year more than 2100 people signed up for the inaugural New Zealand Dry July fundraiser, raising more than $550,000 for the Northern Regional Cancer and Blood Service at Auckland City Hospital - the main treatment centre for cancer patients in the upper North Island.
This year Dry July is raising funds for cancer centres in Christchurch and Wellington.
Te Hauora Runanga O Wairarapa clinician Debbie Aporo said the community health provider supported the campaign.
"Any holiday taken off a substance has benefits for the body.
"It depends entirely on how much you're drinking. If you're a heavy drinker, obviously some people would find that more difficult staying away from it, but people that just socially drink would find that quite easy."
Overall body performance would improve in the absence of alcohol, Ms Aporo said.
"Alcohol is a poisonous substance, so taken in small quantities it has a euphoric effect, but in large quantities it can cause poisoning to the body.
"One month is not going to make a huge difference if you've got a serious drinking problem, but, for the social drinker, it would give the body time to detoxify itself."
Donations last year saw the installation of new televisions for cancer patients, a major garden renovation and 30 new chemotherapy chairs.
Health Promotion Agency (HPA) policy, research and advice general manager Dr Andrew Hearn said initiatives such as Dry July, where participants gave up alcohol for a set period, allowed individuals to re-assess their relationship with alcohol.
"That's a good thing. It is also quite a novel way to raise funds for worthy causes."
The HPA - which has taken over the former Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) - earlier this month launched its "yeah nah" campaign, encouraging people to curtail binge drinking.
Dry July originated in Australia in 2008 and has raised more than $11million for cancer patients to date. Founder Phil Grove said the first weekend was often the hardest, but once that was over "it's pretty much plain sailing". Any averse to finding sponsors could donate what they would have spent on alcohol during July to their campaign.
Participants can take a day off by buying a "Golden Ticket", allowing a 24-hour leave pass.
Registrations and donations can be made on the Dry July website - www.dryjuly.co.nz APNZ