Powered by more than 150 volunteers, Illawarra Cancer Carers (ICC) has been providing support for cancer patients for 34 years.
President Narelle Langridge says that there is a role for every volunteer at ICC.
“I started nine years ago. I woke up one day and thought ‘I want to do some volunteering',” she says.
“I started out driving patients to the hospital and to their appointments. Nine years later, here I am.”
Along with their driving service, ICC offers support to cancer patients experiencing a wide range of issues.
“We’ve got turbans and breast cushions – so if anyone needs them, they can just pop in and grab one. We don’t charge them for that,” Narelle says.
“We need more people to go into the hospitals because they’ve just opened up ward 7 at Wollongong Hospital again – just to chat and make them a cup of tea and things like that.”
The organisation also offers free sessions at the lymphoedema clinic in Dapto and can provide financial help for patients facing hardship. Member Patricia Hearn says that cancer treatment often involves unexpected costs.
“They get sick, they've got to go to the doctors, they've got to pay the extra money, they've got to get to their appointments and back,” Patricia says.
“But then the phone bill hasn't been paid, because they've been getting treatment. And the electricity bill hasn't been paid because they're getting treatment. So when we can, we'll help them out and pay those bills for them.”
Recently ICC fundraised $47,500 to support cancer research at the University of Wollongong, raising funds through stalls, raffles, and their annual Banquet at The Beach event.
This year’s Banquet at The Beach will be held on Sunday, October 27 at City Beach Function Centre, Wollongong. Chairperson Patricia Hearn invites locals to come along and enjoy a three-course meal.
“For people just to stop what they're doing and come and do that for us… it's beautiful. The theme is ‘Come Fly With Us’. We’ll be dressed up as air hostesses,” Patricia says.
“We've got people that have volunteered to sing – so we've got an acapella group, Out of the Blue, performing for us, and Anthony Snipe has volunteered to sing around lunchtime.
“There's lots of fun things to do – games to play and prizes to win, as well as our stall with the sewing ladies.”
ICC sewing group meets on Friday mornings at Dapto Showground. The team uses donated materials to make a variety of items that are sold at ICC stalls to raise funds.
“People donate the wool and then people donate their time to make it, which is just beautiful,” Patricia says.
“It's a real community. You go to our sewing group and there's 20 or 30 people, but the network from those 20 or 30 people is amazing – they can take wool home and people can sit in their chairs and knit.”
Throughout August, Narelle and Patricia raised funds with a stall at Warilla Grove Shopping Centre. ICC sold clothes, homewares and toys made by the sewing group.
“People come in to chat and sometimes they’ll bring in things to donate from home,” Narelle says.
“Our prices are very reasonable, and we have so much to sell because so much is donated by the community.”
Locals wanting to volunteer with Illawarra Cancer Carers can find more info via their website, download their application form, follow ICC on Facebook or call Narelle on 0414 280 127.
