An ‘open garden’ & a wedding
We are thrilled that HSP community members have once again excelled in coming up with ways to raise money to fund research for a cure for HSP.
At the same time we are humbled by their hard work and that of their family and friends who volunteered to help.
‘Open Garden’ fundraiser for HSP in SA – Great turnout, $9,000 raised
In April, Open Gardens SA https://www.facebook.com/opengardensa/ told their followers:
“It’s going to be beautiful autumn weather this weekend – perfect for visiting an open garden or two! And we have two gardens opening on Saturday 02 and Sunday 03 April 2022.
Roslyn Park – Open at the earlier time of 9.30am, the garden in front of the gracious old 1890’s bluestone villa is planted with over 150 roses which provide a dazzling display of colour and perfume when in flower. The remainder of this large garden with its extensive collection of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes and some vegetables, is productive rather than traditional. There will be talks throughout the day on a variety of subjects associated with organic gardening and sub-tropical fruit production.”
With that enticement, HSP community members from one extended family in South Australia put on a fundraiser that attracted a great turnout and raised $9,000 for research to find a cure. They recruited extra volunteers, got donated prizes for a raffle and organised a mammoth effort over the two days. A team of people working in the kitchen baked up a storm for their stall selling Devonshire Teas. They also sold plants and artworks at other stalls until exhausted. The weather was very kind, and even though a lot of people were concerned about COVID in the community, visitor numbers to the Open Garden event were very pleasing.
A number of people who couldn’t attend, also made donations. Not only were funds raised, the event provided an opportunity to create some public awareness of HSP as most at the event had never heard of it. Robert, the owner of the garden, said “It was my pleasure to assist in raising funds for HSP Research”.
This particular garden is well known and well regarded, having been featured on the Gardening Australia program on ABC TV.
Jamie and Kate’s wedding fundraiser
Kate from NSW, who has HSP, writes …
After combining two homes’ worth of belongings, we believed that we had everything we needed to start our life together. I liked the idea of having one gift to serve as a beautiful memory of our wedding. We chose a Nick Hollo artwork of the Mona Vale area which is where we had our wedding.
We let our guests know the above and suggested that if they would like to get us a gift then we would be delighted if they would like to contribute towards an artwork, with any monies left over to be donated to a charity close to our hearts.
The response was taken well by wedding guests. We had a wishing well in which people gave cash donations in cards. Due to COVID case numbers being high at the time, some guests were not able to join us at the wedding but asked if they could still contribute, so we emailed our guests in the week leading up to the wedding with bank transfer details for donations.