Let’s support Plunket

My name is Patricia Hill and I am currently the president of your Martinborough Plunket Group. This small group is actively working for the mothers, fathers and babies of the Martinborough wider district.
We carry out the following types of activities for members of our community:
• monthly coffee mornings for meeting other parents and/or caregivers and chatting with the nurses and each other
• courses that assist with the care, and raising, of young children
• delivering gift ‘Baby Bundles’ full of goodies to Mums and their new babies
• providing wonderful happenings for caregivers and wee ones e.g Teddy Bear Picnics, Xmas Parties, etc.
• fund-raising to enable these activities for Martinborough families
• provision of accommodation, and nurses, for clinics for young children
• afternoon teas to congratulate the wonderful, stalwart workers who have given of their time to Plunket over years
• liaison with Plunket New Zealand for our community.

Our Group is presently holding a raffle during the National Plunket Appeal Month and I would like to sincerely thank the friends I have managed to ‘coax’ into supporting us by selling tickets outside Pain & Kershaw. However, being a relatively new member of the Martinborough community, my pool of friends is limited, so I truly value the immediate response of support from these women!
Thank you also to all those who bought our raffle tickets. We also have donation buckets in many of our local stores for contributions throughout this month. All the monies raised is used for our parents and children locally, with the proceeds from this raffle going toward “Upgrading Plunket Room Furniture – With Parent and Child-Friendly Focus”.
Plunket has served the Martinborough community staunchly over many years. People my age have had immense benefits for their children through the efforts of Plunket. For this wonderful service to continue our group of four needs to have your support. I, for one, (having had no children of my own) am not prepared to continue with the workload if the community is not prepared to give support in a tangible, offering way. The young families and youth of our society are our town’s life-blood. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers of new babies and growing children, in fact all members of the Martinborough community must give of their time to help Plunket thrive in our town.
I intend to draw up a database of all those – young and old – who will assist with, perhaps, one or two small tasks within a year to help our skeleton group of organisers to continue to run this necessary, superb organisation for the wider Martinborough community. You may be phoned to request your help with a working bee, for selling raffle tickets, to bake a cake or slice, etc. You will be given the opportunity to refuse if the time is not suitable for you, with no recriminations – merely a ‘thank you’ and request to be able to ask again at another time to see if you might be available then. We need the help of every able adult within the community if Plunket is to continue here!
Without your willing support a valuable, vital group will not survive in Martinborough and the loss to our community will be great.
Please phone me, Pat Hill, on 3066237 to join our database of helpers. Be active in ensuring the continuation of Martinborough Plunket!