Opinion: '˜Beast from East' hits Great Daffodil Appeal

The Great Daffodil Appeal is Marie Curie’s biggest fundraising campaign, held every March. Every donation and daffodil worn helps Marie Curie provide vital care for people living with a terminal illness and support for their families.

Eight million daffodil pins are distributed each year. Last year £6.6 million was raised and £86.6 million in total raised since the campaign began in 1986.

Locally, the charity was forced to cancel some of its collections in Scarborough due to the bad winter weather.

However, new dates for street and supermarket collections have just been confirmed and the charity is putting out an urgent appeal for volunteers to donate two hours of their time to help collections on the following dates:

Scarborough street collection: Saturday March 24. Malton and Helmsley street collections Saturday March 17.

Tesco, Westwood: Saturday April 7.

Marie Curie is the UK’s leading charity for people with any terminal illness.

The charity helps people living with a terminal illness and their families make the most of the time they have together by delivering expert hands-on care, emotional support, research and guidance. Marie Curie employs more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, and with its nine hospices around the UK, is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.

As the dedicated team of nurses steps out whatever the weather, they urgently need the support of people from across the county to ensure that vital fundraising continues so that the charity can keep on providing care for people suffering a terminal illness.

The charity is also looking for a volunteer to host the Scarborough street collection on Saturday March 24. The role consists of being there on the day to greet the collectors, handing out all the kit they need to collect, and helping to count and bank the money at the end. The street collection has the potential to raise between £700 and £1,000 in just one day.

If you can help keep Marie Curie nurses in the homes of people who are dying and who desperately need their care and support please donate today online or text DAFF to 70099 to donate £5.

Alternatively, you can step into spring by signing up to the 10,000 steps per day challenge in exchange for sponsorship from family, friends and work colleagues.

Or why not bring some sunshine to March on the charity’s “Let’s go yellow day” which takes place tomorrow, Friday, to support Marie Curie nurses. By wearing yellow and inviting colleagues or classmates to make a donation you’ll help brighten up March and raise money for the Great Daffodil Appeal.

Daffodil pins are available from volunteers on high streets across the country, Marie Curie shops, and stores including Superdrug, Spar, Poundworld, Hotter Shoes and Wyevale Garden Centres. Visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil or call 0800 304 7025.

For more information on Marie Curie or the Great Daffodil Appeal please contact Jennifer Carmichael on 01904 755260 or email [email protected].