No joke – buy a red rose and support the Red Cross on April Fools

Purchasing a rose this coming April Fools day is no joke - Thursday 1st April is the Red Cross Rose Day fundraiser in Canterbury.

More than 1000 volunteers will be hoping to raise $50,000 by hitting the streets of Canterbury and the West Coast on Thursday laden with 27,000 locally grown, long stem red roses.

The red roses will be sold for $2 each, with funds raised going to help the community support activities of the Red Cross locally and internationally. Launching the appeal, Air New Zealand has purchased 5,000 of the roses to give to its passengers arriving into Christchurch on the day.

“In the global environment we currently live in where there seems to be more natural disasters as well as greater conflict, the efforts of the Red Cross are more important than ever,” said Air New Zealand Group General Manager, Marketing, Network and Sales, Norm Thompson.

“We hope that by gifting the roses we’ve purchased to our customers arriving into Christchurch they will then be encouraged to mirror that gift and purchase a rose to give to someone else.”

The roses will be sold at over 60 locations throughout Canterbury and the West Coast, including 30 sites in Christchurch alone, from suburban shopping malls to the central city.

“We certainly appreciate the support of Air New Zealand, our volunteers, and Red Bus Limited who have donated a vehicle and driver for the day so we can distribute the roses,” said Graham Wrigley, Red Cross Regional Director, Canterbury West Coast.

“We hope the Canterbury and West Coast communities will take the opportunity to buy a rose or two on April Fools Day. The fundraiser is an important activity for us an goes a long way towards funding our activities for the year.”

The Red Cross accepts no direct government funding, so its work is very dependent on the generosity of donors.

Funds raised will be used to help Red Cross support people locally and internationally through its International Humanitarian Law, International Disaster Response and Development Programmes and Emergency Management and Community Services.

Red Cross activity has recently included support for flood victims in the North and South Islands, those affected by the cyclones in Nuie and Vanuatu, as well as ongoing local community support in the Canterbury region such as first aid training to school children, meals on wheels, refugee resettlement and emergency welfare.

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