Pink Rose Day is almost here!

Tomorrow, Thursday, 15th November, we will be holding the second annual Pink Rose Day to raise money for local charity Central Coast Kids in Need.

They are a volunteer organisation who provide financial and other assistance to the families of seriously ill children who need to travel to Sydney or Newcastle for often lengthy and lifesaving medical treatment.

Last year we raised $5 000 for Central Coast Kids in Need, and this year our aim is to see if we can double that!!

We’d really appreciate your support in helping us reach our target.

Here’s how you can help:

1)  Make a donation via the ‘Donate and Pre Pay’ page on this website

2)  Order and pre pay for Pink Rose Day products (we’ll deliver them to your office on the day). You can pre pay on the website www.pinkroseday.com.au (click donate and pre pay)

3) Request an order form – the team at The Footprint Group will deliver to your office on the day and collect payment kristy@thefootprintgroup.com.au

4) Attend the launch of Pink Rose Day at the Gosford Waterfront from 7am to 9am. It’s free to attend, you’ll be able to donate, buy Pink Rose Day products, grab a coffee, meet Josh Rose from the Central Coast Mariners enter some raffles and join in the fun at this family friendly before school time

5) Book your seat at the Pink Rose Day Charity Luncheon, being held at Onda Terrigal. Tickets are $90pp and can be purchased at www.pinkroseday.com.au or by contacting Kristy@thefootprintgroup.com.au

6) Request a donation bucket so you can collect donations from your office, or the area around you.

We’re also looking for volunteer businesses to help collect donations and sell roses in their local area. If you are able to help us with this please email Kristy@thefootprintgroup.com.au.

For further information contact Kristy-Lee Johnston or Kristy Burness at The Footprint Group, official organisers of Pink Rose Day, call 4367 5500 or e mail Kristy@thefootprintgroup.com.au

Thanks for your support of this great cause!

We are now only officially 3 weeks away until our second
Pink Rose Day event on 15^th November 2012!

Without the support of charities like Central Coast Kids in Need, families across the Coast would be under even more financial pressure during the most difficult times, when they have a seriously ill child, so please support this great cause in any way that you can.

In 2011 we raised $5 000 for Central Coast Kids in Need and this year we want to do even better!

There are a number of ways you can become involved this year with supporting the Pink Rose Day campaign:-

• Attend the Pink Rose Day Charity Luncheon to be held at Onda on Thursday the 15^th November. Bookings are essential, tickets are $90 pp and the luncheon is fully catered including drinks and entertainment.
• Become a work place Pink Rose Day Ambassador by requesting a Pink Rose Day product order form and Pink Rose Day donation buckets to help collect donations. That way you can collect orders from your colleagues, customers and suppliers, which we’ll deliver to you on Pink Rose Day for them to collect.
• Place an order or make a donation online at www.pinkroseday.com.au
• Help spread the Pink Rose Day word through your network of colleagues, family and friends.

If you require any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact Kristy-Lee Johnston or Kristy Burness at The Footprint Group, official organisers of Pink Rose Day.

www.pinkroseday.com.au

Email: Kristy@thefootprintgroup.com.au or kburness@footprintrecruitment.com.au
or contact us on: 4367 5500.

Working in the local business community I attend many fundraisers and support lots of charity events to help both local and larger not for profits and charities. We love being involved in this as I personally am committed to giving back to the local community in any way I can.

In recent years a friend of ours had a young child diagnosed with Leukemia. Clearly devastating for them, and due to the rapid onset of the condition they relocated from rural NSW to Sydney the day after the diagnosis for treatment. They were ‘lucky’ only because they had close family living within a 20 minute drive of the hospital, so they moved in for the 8 months or so that they needed to be in Sydney for ongoing treatment.

The good news is they have now been able to move back ‘home’ and the child is in remission and doing really well!

I know how challenging their struggle was, and they had great support.

I became aware of the work Central Coast Kids In Need do via another supporter of theirs, Bloom Photography and Portrait Studio. Last year I had some portraits taken of my two beautiful children and found out that they donate a % from every portrait sitting to Central Coast Kids In Need, so I looked the charity up.

Here’s what I found out (www.cckin.com.au)

Central Coast Kids In Need was founded 18 years ago in 1993.

A local Central Coast mother was staying at Ronald McDonald House with her sick son when the Manager suggested
she start a ‘volunteer fundraising group’ on the Central Coast to help other parents with their accommodation bills. These families all have seriously ill children with prolonged illness (a very large proportion are cancer patients, others with
organ transplants and premature babies with life threatening health issues).

Not everyone is aware that there is a $33/night fee to stay at the Ronald McDonald Houses. As an example, following a bone marrow transplant a child needs to be isolated for some 6 weeks before returning home to the Central Coast. Bills for thousands of dollars would financially ruin young families.

Central Coast families do not qualify for any government assistance as only families more than 100 kms away from the treating hospital are eligible.

I thought it was a fantastic cause, and like many others I had no idea that facilities like Ronald McDonald House do attract a
minimal cost. I decided then that I wanted to do something to help.

Pink Rose Day has been inspired from that idea. Whilst as an individual I am keen to contribute, I thought I could do more, and wanted to do something that would become regular, and ongoing to support this great local group of volunteers.

My hope is that Pink Rose Day becomes an annual event which continues to grow each year, providing more and more support to Central Coast Kids In Need.

Kristy-Lee Johnston, Director of The Footprint Group

Pink Rose Day 2012 will be on Thursday the 15^th November 2012.

The purpose of this annual event is to raise much needed funds for local charity Central Coast Kids in Need (www.cckin.com.au). The team of volunteers at Central Coast Kids in Need provide financial and other support to the families of seriously ill children who need to travel to Sydney or Newcastle for, often extensive, hospital treatment.

2011 was the first ever Pink Rose Day, and we managed to raise a total of just over $5 000 for this great charity. This year we want to
make it BIGGER AND BETTER!!

Here are some of the way you’ll be able to get involved and help this great cause this year:

1) Buy a gorgeous single stem rose for $6, or buy 2 gorgeous single stem roses for $10

2) Buy one of the other fabulous Pink Rose Day Products (details coming soon!)

3) Become a Corporate Sponsor

4) Become a Product Sponsor (products will be used to raise money at the Pink Rose Day Charity Luncheon, and for prizes in our
school artwork competition)

5) Become an Ambassador – spread the word and help us sell products prior to and on the day through your networks, friends and
families

6) Attend the Pink Rose Day Charity Luncheon to be held at Onda, Terrigal on the day

7) Ask us for a Pink Rose Day Donation Bucket which can be placed at your business for you to collect staff and neighbour donations

8) If you are a pre or primary school participate in the School Art Competition – great prizes to be won!

For more information about getting involved, contact the organisers at The Footprint Group Kristy@thefootprintgroup.com.au

Local businesses, led by Footprint Recruitment in Erina, teamed up for the launch of the inaugural Pink Rose on Tuesday 15^th November 2011.

The day was kicked off with an official Launch at the Gosford Waterfront where the organisers described the proposed activities for the day, the nature of this now to be annual event, and heard from the benefitting Charity, Central Coast Kids In Need.

Lorraine Churchill, Secretary of Central Coast Kids In Need gave the crowd an overview of the important work Central Coast Kids In Need do, and introduced some of the other volunteers who work tirelessly on the committee, as well as some family members who they had assisted.

Central Coast Kids In Need provides financial and other support to families of seriously ill children from the Central Coast, who need to travel to Sydney and Newcastle for essential and often lifesaving medical treatment.

Without the support of groups like Central Coast Kids In Need these families would be forced to pay for accommodation nearby to the hospital, and / or face the task of commuting daily to and from the hospital. Even the services such as Ronald McDonald House attract a cost for families to stay there, so the financial burden placed on families who are already going through an emotionally difficult time, can be very hard to manage.

Throughout the day Pink Rose Day Field staff door knocked businesses across the Coast to collect money and sell roses, and also delivered pre ordered roses.

“The day was a fantastic success”, said Kristy Johnston, Director of Footprint Recruitment and organiser of the event. “We raised just over $5 000 for Central Coast Kids In Need which we are all really proud of for our first year, and we look forward to raising even more in 2012.”.

“Local businesses on the Central Coast really got behind the event, with Roses 2 Go supplying the roses, and other businesses acting as Ambassador and Supporters assisting with selling roses, collecting donations and volunteering their time, services and goods for the day”. Ms Johnston said. “We were most impressed by the generosity of all the businesses we door knocked, with the business community really getting behind this great cause.”

The Pink Rose Day organisers snuck into the Roses 2 Go Rose Farm on the weekend to get an update from Nicky, Wade and the team about the preparations for Pink Rose Day!

Sue Henry and Kristy Johnston are at the Roses 2 Go Rose Farm discussing the Pink Rose Day initiative and how to get involved:

In August 2010 our five year old son Damon Burgess was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. My husband and I were in shock as we sat at Westmead Children’s Hospital and the oncologist came to explain what was happening and what treatment would be involved. Bone marrow aspirations, central venous lines, chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, platelets, neutrophils……..all these words meant nothing to us at the time but were soon to become a part of our daily life. Life as we knew it had been turned upside down and we had no idea what lay ahead.

Damon’s diagnosis meant I had to stop working and that meant our family was financially under a huge amount of pressure. How would we cover our home loan, bills, medical and travel expenses?

Within one week of being diagnosed a friend of our family had made contact with Central Coast Kids in Need on our behalf after hearing an advertisement on the local radio station. The very next day whilst sitting beside Damon’s bedside at Westmead, I received a phone call from a lovely lady at Central Coast Kids in Need who explained how they would be able to help with all our travel expenses. I was completely overwhelmed. We simply had to keep all petrol/parking receipts and they would reimburse us when we send them in.

Over the last ten months we have relied on the support of Central Coast Kids in Need on a weekly basis to help cover our travel expenses to and from Westmead, without this support we would have found it extremely difficult to find the money to cover the regular trips to Westmead for Damon’s treatment, appointments and admissions.

Central Coast Kids in need provides such amazing support to so many local families and i believe it is extremely important for the community to continue to show their support for central coast kids in needs.

THANK YOU CENTRAL COAST KIDS IN NEED!!!

LOVE FROM THE BURGESS FAMILY

The local Central Coast media is really getting behind this great cause, today we’re featured on Business Insider, here’s the link:

http://businessinsider.net.au/stories/health-social/pink-rose-day–a-new-initiative-by-central-coast-businesses

Pink Rose Day is now less than 2 weeks away so we thought it was time to update you on how the plans are coming along for the BIG DAY!!

- The Official Launch Event has now been confirmed and will be held at Gosford Waterfront from 8am to 9:30am on the morning of the 15th (more details will be posted shortly)

- We have had great support from a number of Ambassador and Supporter Businesses and a big Thank You goes out to Business StickyBeak Sue Henry, Find My Local, The Transcription People, Belkin, MYC Partners, Words and Pictures, Forever Bronze Erina, Display Power Gosford, Embroidery Central and of course the fabulous team at Roses 2 Go.

- We have more and more Pick Up points coming on board, a full list will be coming shortly

- You can now pre order and pay for your roses, or make a donation, online vai the Get Involved page on the website. Payment is accepted via credit card, PayPal or EFT.

- We are of course very keen to sell beautiful roses on Pink Rose Day, but we’re also taking donations for those of you who would prefer that, or those very generous people who would like to give a little more. Pink Rose Day Donation Buckets are available at all Pick Up points, and will be carried by our Field Staff on the day. You can also donate via the website, by clicking on the ‘Get Involved’ page, then finding the donation button. Remember all funds are going directly to Central Coast Kids In Need

- You can keep up to date with the day to day latest news on the FaceBook page

So that’s the latest news!! With only 2 weeks to go we will keep you posted as the pre orders and donations continue to arrive.

Kristy

Pink Rose Day – suppoting Central Coast Kids In Need