Irish Cancer Society’s Garden of Hope returns to the Iveagh gardens this Daffodil Day
Seven years and almost 20,000 messages of hope
The Irish Cancer Society will plant the Garden of Hope for the seventh year, returning to the Iveagh Gardens this Daffodil Day, on Friday March 11th. The Society together with Dell, its lead partner on Daffodil Day, appeal for people around the country to dedicate a daffodil with a message of hope for themselves or someone they love. To do this visit www.cancer.ie/gardenofhope or CallSave 1850 60 60 60 to dedicate a flower or make a donation. This year the Society will receive dedications from all over Ireland and further afield and will plant its 20,000th message of hope.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_preview","fid":"5390","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"180","style":"line-height: 1.4; width: 180px; height: 180px; float: right; margin: 2px;","width":"180"}}]]Mark Mellett, Head of Fundraising, of the Irish Cancer Society said “The Garden of Hope is a really beautiful and meaningful part of Daffodil Day. Every year we receive daffodils with beautiful messages written on them. Messages from people remembering someone they have lost or messages celebrating people who are still here. The daffodils are carefully packed and sorted so that when they are planted on Daffodil Day they are ordered and people can walk through the garden and visit their message. It’s very special and we hope anyone, who can, comes and visits the garden on Daffodil Day. There is still plenty of time to dedicate a message – so if you haven’t made a dedication yet, do it today.”
Funds raised on Daffodil Day by thousands of volunteers across Ireland go directly to fund the work of the Society across support, prevention, research and advocacy. Night Nursing is one service funded by Daffodil Day. Seventy five percent of cancer patients wish to die at home surrounded by family, yet only 25% get to do so. The Irish Cancer Society provides the only night time care service for cancer patients in their own homes. In 2015 the Society’s nurses provided 7,956 nights of care to over 1,940 patients and this service is fully funded by the people of Ireland who consistently support the work of the Society.
Niamh Townsend, General Manager at Dell Ireland, noted that cancer has touched all our lives. “The Garden of Hope is about paying tribute to loved ones and all those who have faced a cancer diagnosis. The Irish public is always incredibly generous when it comes to supporting Daffodil Day as there is no one in this country who has not seen the impacts of cancer – either through personal experience or through the diagnosis of a family member or friend. As lead partner to the campaign, we are calling on people to do what they can to support Daffodil Day this year.”
It’s vital that Daffodil Day reaches its ambitious fundraising target of €3.5 million in order to continue to provide and expand this service and others.
The Society and Dell, lead partner for Daffodil Day, are calling on the public to help support the campaign on Friday 11th March and ask people to volunteer, organise or donate on CallSave 1850 60 60 60 or visit www.cancer.ie/daffodilday.
