Collectors sought for Big Heart Appeal
Volunteering for the Heart Foundation has always been a family affair for two Timaru sisters whose father ‘‘roped’’ them in almost 35 years ago.
Fay Edgeler, 69, said she and her sister, 71-year-old Lorraine South, had ‘‘always been there in the wings’’ of the national organisation’s South Canterbury branch helping their father, Dave Annett – whether it be making cups of tea at meetings or coordinating volunteers around the region for street appeals.
‘‘He roped a lot of the family into volunteering. I have photographs at home of two aunts doing the Jump Rope for Heart,’’ Edgeler said.
Both sisters got involved with the organisation almost 35 years ago, though Edgeler took a break from volunteering while she lived in Australia between 1989 and 2001.
The sisters are calling for more volunteers for the annual
Big Heart Appeal on February 19 and 20, when collectors hit the streets of Timaru, Temuka, Pleasant Point, Geraldine, Twizel, Fairlie, and other parts of New Zealand to raise money.
‘‘What is collected in South Canterbury, stays in South Canterbury,’’ Edgeler said.
‘‘We can never have too many volunteers.’’
South said they had ‘‘good support’’ from the community, volunteers and the seven committee members.
‘‘A lot have been helping us for up to 20 years.
‘‘We want to thank our supporters because without them, we can’t do what we are doing.’’
South said money raised in previous appeals had gone towards providing scales to heart disease sufferers, as rapid weight gain could indicate the heart was not pumping blood properly and fluid was building up.
Edgeler said street collections had also helped fit every St John ambulance in South Canterbury with a defibrillator, which came in handy when their father had a heart attack in Otipua Rd, Timaru.
‘‘We are only too happy to support something that helped save our father.’’
Their father, who served as regional chairman of the organisation for nine years, suffered three heart attacks – one while visiting the Great Wall of China in the 1980s – and began having major angina attacks in his last year of life. He died in 2012, aged 91.
‘‘He never needed surgery. We felt very lucky,’’ Edgeler said.
‘‘When he started having major angina attacks, the doctors said to us: Take him home and enjoy him, he has only got a few days. He survived a year.’’
Their father was ‘‘absolutely passionate’’ about the organisation because of the strides it had made in researching heart disease and education around it, she said.
People wanting to volunteer were asked to call Edgeler, the South Canterbury co-ordinator, at 03 684 5277.