Support for Joan Whiting Jamboree is “absolutely overwhelming”
Sorting out just a fraction of the donated goods for the Joan Whiting Jamboree this Sunday, Chrissie Lewis (left) and rest home manager Jan Dahl. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
Staff and trustees of the Joan Whiting Rest Home at Collingwood have been blown away by support from the community for their charity Jamboree this Sunday 27 June.
All week they have been sorting out donated goods that have been flowing in by the carload from the community.
“The whole place is bulging with boxes,” says rest home manager Jan Dahl. “The sheds are overflowing, even a vacant resident’s room is chocka, and that’s not to mention my own garage at home. Artists have donated pottery and paintings; even the kindergarten in town turned up with a whole lot of marmalade made by the kids. We’ve even got helicopter rides to auction. It’s been positively overwhelming.”
The proceeds will go into the general operational coffers of the rest home, which has been running at a loss.
The Jamboree starts at 10.30am, when 10 staff members and supporters will attempt a sponsored mid-winter swim off Collingwood Beach. One of those swimmers will be Jan Dahl, who says that this seasonal activity will be her first and almost certainly her last.
At 11am the doors to the Collingwood Memorial Hall will open and there will be all sorts of stalls, including food, white elephant and book stalls. One of the classic books to be offered is personally signed by yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester. The silent auction will begin at 1.30pm and finish around 3pm. There will be spot prizes offered all through the day, with a large prize “worth staying for” right at the end.
Continuous entertainment will be provided by local musicians and will include a flamenco dance performance by Maria Koch from East Takaka and her twin daughters Katrina and Liza. The Collingwood Fire Brigade will also put on a display on the day.
Joan Whiting currently has 15 residents out of a possible 17 beds to fill. This is the first time in two years it has had any vacancies. Rest home trustee Kris Campbell, whose mother is a resident at Joan Whiting, says that while the board is committed now to integration, a move which will almost certainly see the Collingwood home eventually close, it also wanted to rouse support and raise funds “so that it doesn’t just peter out in the process.”
“We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the grassroots support from the community since all this discussion about closure. All the time people are dropping off donations like vegetables—for two months we haven’t brought any at all for the place. It’s definitely very heartening just to see how fondly the wider community regards this special place.”
Gerard Hindmarsh
