Manufacturers, distributors and customers from the apple growing regions of Tasman and Hawkes Bay came together to present donations raised for their local community hospices.

Leading horticulture manufacturer and supplier, Grochem, raised $22,000 for the Hawkes Bay’s Cranford Hospice, and $10,000 for the Nelson Tasman hospice through a campaign during October and November 2018 where they earmarked a proportion of sales of their leading apple thinning product, Meteor.

George McHardy, Managing Director of Grochem, said as a local business it’s important to our team to give back to local communities that support us – where New Zealand’s growers are.

“Over the past few years we’ve been raising funds for a Unicef NZ water sanitation project in Vanuatu, where many of our RSE workers come from to make the harvest possible, but we wanted to have an impact locally with those who support our business. For our team, hospice services just made sense,” says George.

It was the passing of a friend in the Hawkes Bay region’s apple growing community where many saw the unwavering support that hospice services provide to those needing end of life care.

“Saying goodbye to a friend sparked something inside our team. We wanted to do something for the communities where New Zealand’s apple growers and their families live and work,” said Grant Morrish, General Manager – Grochem.

The need for hospice support is clear. Nelson and Tasman’s population is getting older and growing, the demand for hospice services continue to grow too. In the past four years Nelson Tasman Hospice has seen a significant increase in referrals for their services. At any one time they are looking after 180 patients in the community.

In the Hawkes Bay, the Cranford Hospice made more than 23,730 contacts with 853 patients, either at home, on the phone, or in their inpatient unit in the last year.

Behind these numbers are individual people and their families who were cared for by the hospice team. This is enabled through the support they have from their communities and through organisations such as Grochem and their customers.

The hospices often undertake projects with no government funding, or need to top up their operational budget by several millions to continue providing this vital service.

Grant Morrish said the funds raised in both regions was a joint effort between the regions’ growers and distributors, and it was humbling to see them come together for their community.

Cranford Hospice – Hawkes Bay

Left to right – Back Row: Tony Waites – Mr Apple, Chris Herries and James Cropper – Horticentre, Peter Melville – Fruitfed Supplies, Mike Annand – Farmlands, Greg Evans – Grochem. Front Row: Shelly Covell – Hospice advocate, Grant Morrish – Grochem, Janice Byford-Jones – Cranford Hospice, George McHardy – Grochem, Richard Rutherford – Fruitfed Supplies

Nelson Tasman Hospice

Left to right: Mark Milne – Fruitfed Supplies, Paul McIntyre – Nelson Tasman Hospice, Grant Morrish – Grochem, Nelson Tasman Hospice CEO Frans Dellebeke, Gary Marshall – Grochem, Dave Stephens -Farmlands, and Chris Bins – Tasman Crop Protection.