We haven't posted for quite a while - sorry about that! Part of that has been because the Busk For A Cure event has now finished, and partly it's because this one took some time to organise. We're still planning to put more interviews up here on the blog, but they may not be as regular. We'll see how we go!
The event went really well. We had lots of people showing up to the different stages, and the new venues worked great. We also managed to raise over $3000 for Cancer Council NSW, and Crohn's and Colitis Australia, which is fantastic! We're already looking towards next year, and planning what that's going to look like. But in the meantime, this week, I got the chance to talk to Jess, who actually works at Cancer Council NSW, about where this money is going towards, and what it is they do.
Introduce yourself. Who are you, and what’s your role within the Cancer Council?
I’m the current Acting Regional Manager for Metro Sydney, and also the Community Engagement Manager — we manage and co-ordinate teams for fundraising and develop initiatives to support programs in the community around practical support, prevention, advocacy, and information.
How/why did you get involved?
I’m a dietitian by qualification/background, that’s what I studied, but I really loved working with the community. I joined the nutrition unit 4 years ago, and was part of the Eat It to Beat It program; but the why — really, it’s the type of organisation that Cancer Council NSW is. It’s a courageous place, that invests in people and in prevention; cancer affects so many people in the community, and it’s about our vision for a cancer-free future.
Can you give us a brief run-down of the major things that the Cancer Council NSW does?
Cancer research, advocacy, practical support and information, and prevention, are the key areas that Cancer Council NSW does. Our aim is that no-one goes it alone through a diagnosis. So we’re there for people before the diagnosis, during that time, and after as well; both for the individual, and also the family, friends, and carers around them.
When people donate money to the Cancer Council, what does that go towards?
A big area that fundraising goes to is into research — we’ve been funding cancer research for 60 years, and today invest $15 million to conduct and fund research across all stages of the cancer journey; investigating causes, prevention, detection, treatment, and supporting people after diagnosis as well, as they adjust to that life.
We also run a number of support services throughout six regional offices. We run programs like the 13 11 20 free confidential information service, where people talk to oncology specialists; we provide over $600,000 in financial assistance to those in need; we’ve made over 7600 trips transporting patients and carers to treatment; and through a partnership with core hotels, we provide 19,800 nights of affordable accomodation, meaning that patients travelling from rural/regional areas can stay with their family or carers close to treatment centres. We also run prevention/advocacy work, like the SunSmart program, which is why we see sun protection measures like shade and broad-brimmed hats being implemented. Funding also allows us to do grassroots advocacy.
Grassroots advocacy — what does that look like?
That’s actually something I’m really passionate about. We have over 19,000 Australian community members that make up the CanAct community; we engage them to find out the issues that people affected by cancer, their carers, their families face, and then lobby the government to face these issues.
NSW State Government recently (in June) announced $100 million in palliative care support in NSW; Brad Hazzard joined us at the launch in Dee Why. In 2015 we also advocated for chemotherapy co-payments to be abolished, and were successful — that meant a saving of $70 million for people in NSW.
How does the Cancer Council help to support cancer research, or people with cancer?
We fund research internally, and also fund external research grants. We also fund research on all cancer types, we don’t just fund the well-known ones. External grants allow us to do that, and we involve a consumer research panel in that process. 96% of our funding actually comes from the community. Yeah, it’s surprising, isn’t it? It’s a lot! We run a lot of local fundraising initiatives, and feel like we have a great responsibility, but also a great reputation in the NSW community.
Is there a story you have from the time you’ve been here of how the Cancer Council has made an impact, particularly in specific people’s lives?
There was a recent staff member who lost her mother of advanced cancer late last year — her mother had just turned 57, and received great palliative care, which was wonderful. She shared her story at the palliative care launch, and as a team we were able to support her, and come around her. She was then able to share that story again later with Brad Hazzard — and then going on to see that declaration of support from the government was amazing. We give people the opportunity to share their stories, it’s really a family-based operation.
What are the best ways for people to get involved or contribute to the work of the Cancer Council?
One of the obvious ways is supporting things like Busk For A Cure, fundraising opportunities, and the like. Other ways are becoming a volunteer — they help us across all of our work; you might help in day events like Relay For Life, you could help with admin, you could join a research study. If you’re interested in advocacy, we’re always looking for people to join our CanAct community. Or you can always just stay in touch via our social media network.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Just a thank you, really — I can’t say it enough, how incredible it is the community support we get, both with fundraising and volunteers. We’re really thankful to the community, for all that we’re able to do because of that — so thank you for allowing us to do our work!
Thank you to Jess for letting us talk with her, and remember that you can still keep up with us on Facebook or on our website - feel free to contact us if you have any questions about Busk For A Cure!
