FLOWER power and community spirit joined together on Friday night in Tamworth for a medicinal cannabis fundraiser.
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The hippy-inspired fundraising party attracted nearly 250 people to the Tamworth Tennis Club, raising more than $7000 with a host of performers lending their musical weight to the night.
Organiser Kristy Barratt said the idea came about when she saw Tamworth’s Lucy Haslam’s plea for people to donate to the Medical Cannabis Fighting Fund.
“All I could give was $30, when Lucy put out the original plea for dspread onations and I thought I could do more than that,” she said.
“From the first idea, it snowballed into a great big fundraiser.”
Mrs Barratt said she had help from Cathy Tiberi, Lucy and Alyce Haslam and other friends in organising the event and said local businesses got behind it and donated prizes for the night.
The fighting fund now has more than $15,000 to pay for advertisements in major metropolitan papers.
Mrs Barratt said there was about $8000 in the bank, about $6000 from the night and another $1200 that she had to hand over.
“It’s beyond what we hoped,” she said.
She said the community support from Tamworth Rotary First Light was also welcomed, as they produced gourmet burgers for the night.
Mrs Barratt said a highlight was seeing smiles on the faces of Dan Haslam, his wife Alyce and his parents Lucy and Lou.
“It was just so much fun,” she said.
Lucy Haslam, who’s been leading the local fight to have marijuana legalised for medical reasons, after seeing the positive effects it has had on her son, Dan, who has terminal bowel cancer, said she was pleased the night was so well supported.
“It went really well and everyone had a ball,” she said.
The advertisements are being designed and will run in early September before the Bill is voted on in NSW Parliament.
n You can donate to the fighting fund via change.org or by donating to Medical Cannabis Fighting Fund, BSB: 932 000, A/C no.: 737 829.