Help cancer charity hit 40 for Johanna’s big birthday
Rainbow Valley gets down to business with 40 for 40 appeal
A CANCER charity with deep Argyll roots is looking for businesses to support a poignant cash drive.
Rainbow Valley is a charity inspired by Lochgilphead girl Johanna MacVicar, who died in 2005 after a long battle with leukaemia.
Johanna believed that diet, stress, exercise and complementary therapies all influenced her health, and it was this holistic approach that inspired the creation of Rainbow Valley five years ago.
Had she lived, Johanna would have turned 40 last Thursday, September 28.
To celebrate the occasion, Rainbow Valley has embarked on a year-long campaign to raise money to allow its work to reach as many people as possible affected by cancer.
The aim is simple: to reach just 40 firms or groups and ask them each to raise £1,000 for Rainbow Valley. Johanna’s mum Angela is chairwoman of the charity. She said: ‘I am immensely proud that, 12 years after she passed away, people are still motivated by her on a daily basis.
‘She loved a party and a celebration, so it seems fitting we should not only celebrate for a full year, but also make a difference to everyone affected by cancer.’
She added: ‘It would be great to get support from around Mid Argyll and beyond, because I was born and brought up in Lochgilphead and that is where Johanna was born too.
‘And there is no reason why we couldn't come to Argyll and run one of our courses if enough people were interested.’
At present Rainbow Valley offers courses near Gartocharn aimed at teaching cancer sufferers how to take back control after diagnosis, focusing on mind, body and soul.
Find out more about Rainbow Valley’s 40 for 40 campaign at www.rainbowvalley.org.uk or call 07775 337 079.