Hospice NZ And Farmers Annual Fundraising Christmas Bauble

Hospice New Zealand And Farmers Annual Fundraising Christmas Bauble:
Championing Contemporary Māori Design to Acknowledge the Cultural Needs of All New Zealanders

In response to his deeply personal experience at Totara Hospice, Māori Artist, Spencer Bellas has designed the 2019 Christmas Tree Bauble to support hospices throughout New Zealand during the Farmers Christmas fundraising campaign. Farmers stores throughout New Zealand will be selling the baubles until Christmas eve, with 100% of the $10 purchase price going to the local hospice service – supporting communities throughout Aotearoa.

Spencer was touched by the way the hospice supported his whānau in 2017 when his uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Having no previous experience with hospice he was impressed when they encouraged and supported the whānau to honour their own cultural needs – something which is vitally important for Māori.

“The staff moved us into a big room where we could bring our mattresses. They brought in extra bedding so we could all sleep onsite. We bought in all our own Kai and had open access to the kitchen. There were about 30 of us there and nothing was a problem. Family members were able to sing individually and in groups onsite as music had been a big part of my uncles’ life. The staff made themselves scarce unless we needed them so we could tend to ourselves, honour our own traditions and be there for him.” says Spencer.

At hospice the aim is to support people culturally and spiritually in whatever way is important to them. Each hospice service works hard to provide for Māori and Pacific people who may be anxious that their needs won’t be catered to at a time when their cultural protocols are crucial. “Over the last 10 years, hospices have been working to increase the awareness and knowledge of how they service Māori patients and their whānau and I believe that this knowledge helps them to look at the needs of the much wider, multicultural community that we also service including our Pasifika cousins and our new migrants and refugees communities” says Ria Earp, Hospice NZ Advisor, Māori Services.

The inspiration for the bauble design is ngaru which is Māori for wave. It represents the journey of life – multiple waves moving together as whānau. In 2019, Hospice wants all New Zealanders to feel safe in the knowledge that they make cultural needs a priority of care; honouring this journey of life both before and after death. Hospice embraces a unique whole person approach meaning that physical, spiritual, emotional and social needs are equally important. As such, Spencer’s Bauble design embraces Māori values and Hospice’s commitment to cultural connection.

Everything hospice provides to people is completely free of charge, the majority of funding comes from Government but more than $55M nationally is required from the community to meet the annual shortfall. The Christmas Bauble available at Farmers is part of the biggest national fundraising drive of the year. In five years, Farmers with the people of Aotearoa have raised $3.4 million dollars for hospice, with 100% of everything donated in each community going to the local hospice service.

FARMERS CHRISTMAS TREE BAUBLES
On sale exclusively at Farmers both in-store and online, with 100% of the purchase price donated to the local hospice service.

www.hospice.org.nz

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