Helen’s group assisting those with cancer to pay their way

Great re-opening has begun.

 And for local charitable groups like Can Assist, it can’t come soon enough.

 Can Assist provides financial support for those living with cancer in the central west with the group holding their first big fund-raiser since March.

 The Spring Garden Ramble — events from which the charity raise almost all their funding — will be held this Saturday and Sunday, October 16–17 at Clifton Grove.

 For local president, Helen Corby, the event is a chance for the group to get back to their work in helping those living with cancer.

 “We had a couple of training nights in February/March, and that was it. So, it will be good to get back into it,” Helen said.

 Helen is one of those volunteers who are the bedrock of local not-for-profits for whom their work is also very personal but who got involved with the charity almost by accident.

 “I know how cancer affects people; I went through it with my Dad who wouldn’t talk about it to us. He was a big strong, really strong man, and to see how it affected him…” she said.

 “What happened was, I play golf at Duntryleague and Can Assist used to meet there once a month after Tuesday Ladies Golf Day. Friends were going to the meetings, and they sounded like a good charity.

 “So, I went to a few meetings and sat in the background, and I thought, ‘this is a great charity’ and I joined,” Helen explained.

 Her financial experience working for years for local financial institutions however proved immediately useful.

 “After school and TAFE, I worked for the financial group IAC in the mid-1960s before leaving to have a couple of children,” Helen said.

 “They needed a new treasurer, and I had been treasurer at Duntryleague and worked for a general accountant, so I took it on,” she said.

 Her background dovetailed perfectly into the group’s major role — providing financial support to individuals and families struggling financially with cancer in country NSW.

 “We provide financial support, we’re an organisation to help you practically and financially. If you can’t afford your bills because of your treatment, phone bills and the like.

 “We have a regime of things, but they have to be related to the cancer patient,” she said.

 Dozens of local people a year receive this support with almost all their funding from three or four major events.

 “We also have a monthly trivia night at Duntryleague, but we haven’t had major event since February/March this year so, hopefully, we’ll get a few in for October/November,” Helen said.

 Events can include movie nights, art exhibitions, garden rambles, and golf days, with Helen estimating the group has lost perhaps 12-months of fund-raising since the pandemic hit in February last year.

 “Duntryleague has always supported us, year in year-out… we normally raise about $45,000 per year, our membership hasn’t dropped, but our events have had to be put on-hold during the lockdowns,” Helen said.

  While the pandemic has cost the group nearly a year’s fundraising, new clients keep coming through needing support.

 “People are still turning-up, we’re still getting two, three, four a month who need our help.

 “These are people referred to us from social workers at the hospital, but they don’t usually speak to us, we just support then with financial support although we don’t provide cash, we can help with vouchers for food and travel, that sort of thing,” she said.

 Can Assist has more than 50 branches in country with the Orange group one of the longest running in the State. The local group has also found a helping hand from one of the online companies that compare green slip costs for cars.

 “We had a farmer who had a greenslip that had to be paid, we contacted Steven Treacey at Greenslips.com and he said, ‘I’ll pay if for you’ and then he sent us a $3000 donation, he’s helped us out with a whole lot more greenslips since then,’ Helen said.

 Helen says that those interested in helping the group can be as involved as little or as much as they wish.

 “We’ve got about 70 members, but we’ve suffered very little drop since the pandemic… people can be volunteers without being a member, it’s all up to you,” Helen concluded.

 For more information, contact Orange Can Assist on 0408 971 945.