Pink inspires generous giving

Various shades of pink have been a fashionable colour around Mangawhai throughout May, symbolising the month’s traditional fundraiser for NZ Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF) the annual Pink Ribbon Breakfast.

Shoppers at Mangawhai’s Saturday market were greeted by a troupe of pink-clad swingers on May 6, funky music and whirling hips and hoops enticing passers-by to join in and have some fun.

The exhibition was a different sort of fundraiser by Mangawhai Power Hoop instructor Nicci Mullholland-Dobbs and her team of ‘hoopers’, the group taking on the challenge to power-hoop nonstop for four hours.

Mullholland-Dobbs says they were all pleased with the response from shoppers and stallholders.

“It was a real hit, the generosity from everyone was just huge and we’re so pleased with the money we raised, over $550, as well as providing a bit of fun and entertainment,” she says. “A lot of people also had a go at power-hooping, which was great, it’s something fun to do in the community.”

Mullholland-Dobbs also led her Whangarei hooping class in another power-hooping fundraiser at the Town Basin on May 13, helping to raise a further $350.

On May 20, over 150 dazzling pink-clad women and a handful of men gathered at Mangawhai Heads Senior Citizens Hall for a classy Pink High Tea.

Co-organisers, dynamic mother and daughter team Jane Bentley and Emma Grieve, along with Judy Boomham, ‘our detail woman who made sure we didn't get too grandiose with our plans’, say they were overwhelmed by the community response. The event was a complete sell out, raising a grand total of nearly $6000 for the cause.

“It’s phenomenal, every ticket sold,” Emma says. “I keep saying it and I will keep on saying it, Mangawhai and Kaiwaka are awesome communities – we are so blessed to be here.”

The event was the fourth fundraiser Jane and Emma (who is the newly appointed deputy principal for Mangawhai Beach School) have organised for NZBCF.

Cancer is a cause ‘incredibly personal’ to them both Jane says, as her mother died of breast cancer and her husband, Emma’s father, passed away after fighting a rare and aggressive lymphoma in Christmas 2016.

“The Pink High Tea was a celebration of our local Mangawhai community spirit,” Jane says. “And the need for support… for so many women nationwide and the men as well, who help to hold families together during the journey that so many women in the country have to face.”

Money raised from the fundraising goes towards providing cutting-edge research, focusing on treatments that will help prevent the spreading of cancer and to support woman in the advanced stages of the disease.

With 3000 women a year, six per day, being diagnosed with breast cancer, NZBCF are hoping to raise $1.8 million to support all New Zealanders living with a breast cancer diagnosis.

“If you live in a community, you have to be part of it and work together, especially for something as destructive as cancer,” Emma says. “Anything we can do to help research is pivotal.”

BOOBALICIOUS: From left, Jane (with scarf) and Emma with ‘special helper’ 3-year-old daughter Molly, and Judy, surrounded by the pink volunteers who together catered an extremely successful Pink High Tea.