‘Making a Difference’ Fundraiser Generates $30,000

Media Release

‘Making a Difference’ Fundraiser Generates $30,000 for Camp Quality

11 November, 2013: Daniel George has never been one to back away from a challenge so the recent Odd Shoe Day national fundraiser for Camp Quality New Zealand (CQNZ), presented an opportunity he couldn’t resist.

Camp Quality is a voluntary charitable trust dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for children, aged 5-16, living with cancer. It does this by providing a range of activities each year including 5 regional week-long summer camps. Daniel has been a volunteer at the last eight Christchurch summer camps and has experienced first-hand what a difference Camp Quality makes.

So when Kaiapoi Borough School in North Canterbury, where he teaches, picked ‘making a difference’ as a project, he decided to lead by example and showed how one person can make a difference, by raising $30,000 for Camp Quality and its Odd Shoe Day campaign.

From an initial $650 which the school raised from its Odd Shoe Day collection on September 13, Dan put his own spin to the task of raising more money, setting a number of personal challenges. The first one: “if we can hit $1,000 I’ll shave my head and then it started to take off,” he says.

After two months of fund raising - five children at the school shaving their hair, school stalls, donations and many pupils participating in numerous events - the total reached $15,000. That’s when the idea came to “really make a difference and organise a giant Charity Auction on Trade Me.”

He agrees this was a “major undertaking, very tiring and time consuming” for which he was totally unprepared. He scoured the country for donations and is grateful for the support received from his Camp Quality associates, Sir Graham Henry, Sir Peter Leitch, Team New Zealand, Mahe Drysdale, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker and trainer Kevin Barry, painter Tony Cribb, plus a number of TV and radio personalities. In the end more than 30 items were sold raising a further $15,000, lifting Dan’s contribution to OSD beyond $30,000.

Camp Quality NZ chairman, Gary Troup describes that “as an incredible achievement by a highly motivated young man. It is a phenomenal effort and on behalf of Camp Quality I would like to acknowledge Dan’s amazing contribution and also thank Kaiapoi Borough School and its pupils, along with everyone involved in the auction.”

Difficult as it was Dan has no hesitation in saying he would do it all again. “I’m always up for a challenge, especially for Camp Quality which is such a deserving charity. When we started I would have been pleased to raise $5,000, to finally make $ 30,000 is way beyond anything I imagined.” He is grateful for the support of family, friends, everyone at Kaiapoi Borough School, Camp Quality and the power of social media.

But Dan had no time to rest on his laurels. The day after the auction closed he headed off for the ‘Ultimate 21 Day’ Outward Bound Course at Anakiwa. In January he will attend his 9th Camp Quality summer camp in Christchurch as a Companion, before “heading overseas for a few years. But at this stage the plan is to maintain my association with CQ and come back each year for the summer camp.”

ENDS

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