Cancellation of Second Annual Street Appeal

We have cancelled our annual street appeal for the second year in a row, in anticipation of the Omicron outbreak and with the Red Traffic Light setting requirement for social distancing.

CEO Ginny Green says to cancel the street collection is “gutting”.

“As one of our key fundraisers, it’s deeply disappointing to have to cancel this appeal, but we don’t want to put our volunteers or our donors at any risk at this stage of the pandemic.

“That means not having our volunteers and collection buckets on the streets and in the super markets. It’s just not possible to maintain solid social distancing in this situation,” says Ms Green.

Our street appeal typically raises around $35,000 each year and is only possible because of the generous time given by nearly 500 volunteers around the Otago region.

“Our fundraising team are already devising alternative fundraisers to make up the difference to our fundraising target, which this year is $2.7million. A tough target from the get go.

“It’s a creative challenge but one we will embrace as we continue to adapt to this pandemic.”

We are asking those who might typically put money in the bucket to donate via our give-a-little campaign: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/cancellation-of-second-street-appeal

“I want to extend our thanks to all those volunteers who put their hands up to collect, and we look forward to 2023 when hopefully we will be in the clear to run the street appeal.”