Camp Quality Raises $80,000 from Awareness Week

Media Release
22 May 2009

Camp Quality Raises $80,000 from National Awareness Week

A record sum of $80,000 was raised from this year’s Camp Quality NZ National Awareness Week campaign, held last month.

The figure, which exceeds last year’s amount of $55,940, will go to assisting Camp Quality NZ; a not for profit volunteer organisation, continue to provide its support programmes and week-long summer camps for children living with cancer.

This was only the second year the organisation had attempted a national fundraising initiative and Camp Quality Chairman Jim Grierson was encouraged by the results. “We would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in running the events, particularly the numerous Lions Clubs around the country who were so generous with their time and support,” he says.

Key events held across the country include a charity auction at the Andrew Simms European launch in Auckland, with Camp Quality Ambassador and Warriors come-back Stacey Jones as the special guest, which realised more than $30,000, an opera evening and gourmet dinner at the Oruawharo Homestead in Hawke’s Bay organised by the Takapau and Spirit of Napier Lions and a golf tournament held by the Glenmark Lions in Christchurch.

Upcoming Camp Quality fundraising events include a women’s networking evening hosted by the Napier Lions next month and a bowling tournament organised by the Dunedin South Lions to be held in the first weekend in November.
Camp Quality NZ, which is dedicated to bringing joy and laughter to children living with cancer through fun yet challenging recreational experiences, will next year mark 25 years since organising its first summer camp in New Zealand.
The first camp was held in West Auckland in January 1985 for 22 children from throughout the country. Camp Quality has since grown to provide annual summer camps in five locations for more than 300 children each year.
Mr Grierson says he is looking forward to celebrating 25 years of Camp Quality New Zealand and he is planning for a number of fundraising events to be held across the country from March through to October, 2010, to mark the occasion. “We are looking forward to making our quarter century anniversary a year to remember,” he says.

Each year, at a cost of more than $500,000 and through the commitment of more than 750 volunteers, Camp Quality deliver fun programmes for children living with cancer.

“The goal is to provide children with fun and comradeship combined with achievable challenges to encourage them to focus on the positive aspects of their lives. There is nothing more humbling than seeing the great big smiles on their faces at our camps and various activities,” says Mr Grierson.

According to Child Cancer Foundation statistics, about 150 young New Zealanders are diagnosed with cancer each year. Camp Quality passionately believes in the power of fun to help these children and their families overcome the challenges cancer brings.

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