Supporting hospice care in NZ’s horticultural regions
In some of the final days of saying goodbye to loved ones many of us will have seen the genuine empathy and kindness of hospice care and understand and appreciate the critical work that they do in our communities.
Hospice care services support families and whānau during one of life’s most challenging times, and help people make the most of the time they have left by supporting patients to live every moment – no matter where they are – whether it be at home, an aged care facility, or at the hospice itself.
That is why Grochem launched an annual campaign, first in 2018, to support hospice care services in the communities of our nations’ apple growers – Hawkes Bay and Tasman.
DateSince 2018Article32,000 to support apple growing regionsWorking withMeteor
Supporting growers' communities in their time of need
Hospice teams have a unique approach, known as “palliative care” – the focus is on the whole person, in a spiritual, emotional and social sense, as well as dealing with physical challenges, and is provided to every patient regardless of age, ethnicity, means or religion.
That level of support requires an extraordinary number of volunteers and staff. The Cranford Hospice in Hawkes Bay for example has over 400 volunteers and 85 staff looking after over 750 patients each year. It really is a community coming together to support people in their final moments.
As a free service provided to anyone with a life-limiting illness – funding is always challenge. Much of their funds comes from government health budgets, but the shortfall (several millions each year for each hospice) comes from fundraising.
In it’s first year running in 2018, Grochem pledged $35 to the Cranford and Nelson Tasman Hospice for every 1kg of Meteor sold, a leading apple thinning agent, across a two-month period
Through magazine ads, articles and news in industry magazines, in-store and event advertising and more, Grochem spread the word about their fundraising initiatives for hospice care.
In 2019 we’ve extended the products that contribute to the fundraising efforts to include all Grochem apple thinning products.
We raised an exciting $32,000 in our 2018 campaign and are underway again in September 2019 to raise even more funds across a wider range of products.
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.
