Foundation of the Blind needs volunteers now!

Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
Media Release
7 September 2004

For immediate release

Foundation of the Blind needs volunteers now!

Photo-Caption: Regional Fundraising Manager Martin Casey may have gone a bit over the top to stress the theme of this year’s Blind Week fundraiser – ‘We can’t afford for you not to see us!’ The Foundation urgently needs over 13,000 volunteers for the Blind Week appeal and is recruiting now.

If you like wearing silly hats and want to volunteer your time for a good cause, the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) needs your help now!

RNZFB’s annual appeal is set for 26 October to 1 November and more than 13,000 volunteers are urgently needed nationwide to help with collections and administrative tasks.

The campaign slogan is “We can’t afford for you not to see us!” and the Foundation has already started recruiting volunteers to ensure that it is able to collect the $1 million needed in this annual appeal.

Blind Week is the Foundation’s main fundraising campaign. Income from the appeal makes up a significant part of the approximately $15 million it has to find each year in donations. Government funding amounts to only 30 percent of the Foundation’s annual budget.

RNZFB National Appeals Advisor Peter Taylor says, “The success of our campaign relies heavily on volunteers. Without their help we simply could not deliver the services needed by our 11,500 members.”

Hawke’s Bay’s Peter Price has been a volunteer with the RNZFB for the last 15 years, and he encourages everyone to lend a hand.

“Money is not everything,” he says, “It cannot compete with the satisfaction derived from volunteering for a worthy cause. It is so fulfilling. People are friendly and receptive to the cause, and at the end of the day I leave with more friends than I had the previous day.”

The number of volunteers needed by region are:

Auckland / Northland 2,000
Waikato / King Country 1,500
Bay of Plenty 1,000

Hawkes Bay Region Total 400
Napier / Hastings 200
Gisborne 80
Wairoa 40
Waipukurau 40
Dannevirke 40
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Blind Week Volunteers Wanted, Page 2 of 2

Wellington Region Total 2,450
Wellington 1,400
Lower Hutt 150
Upper Hutt 150
Taranaki 250
Wanganui 150
Manawatu Area 250
Wairarapa 100

Nelson - Marlborough - Kaikoura 350
Canterbury / Westcoast 2,500
Otago / Southland 3,000

It is easy to volunteer. Visit www.rnzfb.org.nz or dial 0800 002 345 and you will be connected with your regional Foundation office who will advise how you and your friends can get involved in Blind Week 2004.

RNZFB is New Zealand’s primary service provider for blind, vision-impaired and deafblind people. Every year nearly 1500 New Zealanders either go blind or experience serious sight loss.

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