Matt McCracken is the fund-raising manager for Te Omanga and spoke to us about the upcoming Te Omanga Golf Tournament.
Te Omanga Hospice exists for anyone in the Hutt Valley, and it is important for its services to be free of charge for all who need it. Currently its youngest patient is 5, its oldest 100. Its expenses are considerable, but the government, via the DHB, provides only 60% of the costs of running and maintenance. Its shops provide (usually) $1million p.a. and the Hospice has to raise the rest. It is estimated one in every three Hutt citizens will need palliative care at some point: Matt suggests you "look at the person on your right, and the person on your left, and realise one of you will need palliative care at some point."
Palliative care covers residential, advanced medical treatment, respite care, family support and advice. At any given time Te Omanga can be supporting 107 people and their families.
One important source of funds is their annual golf tournament. For eleven years our club has run a very successful golf tournament organised by Paddy and Annette Wells and supported by all our members, raising around $11,000 each year for Te Omanga. The golf tournament organised commercially by Kensway Project Management for Te Omanga, and aimed at the corporate market, has eclipsed our own. It has raised over $60,000 in each of the last three years.
Imitation is the sincerest form of praise, and I would like to think they developed the idea from us. The reality is that the corporate approach raises much more money for the cause, and as our original motive was to assist the Hospice, we are pleased at their success.
Matt gave us some eye-watering examples of what "corporate" implies, with team entries at $600 per team, $2,600 to sponsor a hole (yes, hole, not whole!) and a fine dining tent, etc. Now they are asking for our assistance in running the tournament on the 25th February and Past President Jan is discussing with them how best we can help and will report back to the club.
