Little fighters need warrior
Little Fighters is expanding as community need grows but they need more volunteers to help carry the load.
The Trust focuses on helping families whose children are affected by a life-threatening illness. This does not always mean the child is unwell, it can also mean there is a ripple effect.
‘‘We’re the mortar between the bricks,’’ said Sarah Silver, trustee.
‘‘From September onwards gets really chaotic for us so this is when we lean on our volunteers the most.’’
More than that, they need to find a motivated individual with up to 10 hours a week to spare as their voluntary sponsorship and events coordinator.
‘‘As we branched out into South Taranaki we realised that we needed to make sure our volunteers went out wellequipped by putting the right programme in place.’’ They also need a vehicle. ‘‘We’re looking for someone who wants to really help a charity.’’
Silver said volunteers already gave their time and they shouldn’t have to use their own vehicles as well.
The Trust isn’t cheap to run. It helps families ease the stress of illness and survival by paying bills, providing gifts, meals or whatever else might be needed.
It runs large-scale fundraisers, such as an upcoming game show, quiz night and auction on Saturday, October 29 to make the bulk of the money that supports the five families in South Taranaki and 15 region-wide.
‘‘We could be looking at 30 families on our books next year, we doubled our numbers in 12 months. That’s how many more people have been diagnosed with life-threatening illness,’’ she said.
‘‘The scary thing is the number just keeps going up.’’
To be held at Tasman Toyota, It’s in the Bag is hoped to raise as much money as possible.
‘‘We don’t just help them once and just disappear. It doesn’t work like that. We keep in regular contact to see how they’re going because we care and to see if there’s anything else we can do to help,’’ she said.
‘‘We grow because we help people. We grow because people believe in us, they see what we’re doing and they want to give to that.
For more information email info@littlefighterstrust.co.nz.