A GROUP of Tamworth volunteers have been overwhelmed by the support shown to bring a local charity back from the brink.
Last month, Tamworth Can Assist was in dire straits as members worried the branch, which proffers financial support to local cancer patients, could fold within months if it didn’t rouse more volunteers from the community.
This week, it signed-up 14 new members which almost tripled its previous base of helpers.
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“We only had, at the most, seven come to our meetings,” long-time member Robyn Fitzgerald said.
“We had to rely on donations and it was getting to the stage where, if we hadn’t of got younger-ones in, we just couldn’t manage.”
The branch first called for help last year when it tried to rally to get more younger troops involved and claimed its ageing volunteer-base needed assistance of its own.
While the future still isn’t certain for Can Assist, Ms Fitzgerald was buoyed by the positive response.
“I don’t think we can make sure because we just have to rely on public to come and help,” she said.
“There’s no surety that this won’t happen again.
“But I’m sure with the response we got the other night, I very much doubt it will happen again, everybody seemed really keen.”
She said the influx of members meant the group could start planning fundraising events and functions for the future.
“We’re working on a bowls day,” she said.
“Nothing is in concrete yet.
“We’ll just see what happens at the 5.30pm meeting [on Monday at The Tamworth Hotel] with a whole heap of new ideas and we’ll go from there.”
Tamworth Can Assist has helped more than 70 cancer patients in the last four years with close to $60,000 worth of assistance.
It recently received a helpful donation with this year’s Pedal the Peel fundraising ride pledging $10,000 towards keeping the local branch afloat.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
