Mayor Lois Halko helped launch the Canadian Cancer Society's annual Daffodil Campaign. Dedicated volunteers like Rosa Rocca gear up for a busy week as the live flowers are scheduled to arrive in Sparwood April 1. Once here, Lilac Terrace residents wrap them and then they are sold: both through Greenwood Mall table sales and through pre-orders from the many businesses around Sparwood. Live flowers sales start the campaign and are done April 5th, but residents have an opportunity to wear their support for the Canadian Cancer Society all month by purchasing pins. Beautiful yellow lapel pins are available in donation boxes all around town - and residents are asked to "pin one on!"
Statistics tell us one in four Canadians will be afflicted with the frightening disease. Once considered a death sentence, now patients are often faced with several treatment options when diagnosed. Many go on to lead long and full lives as survivors. With education and research, cancer is no longer an immediate death sentence. The Canadian Cancer Society has made it its mission to help fund the fight, and that is the message behind the April campaign.
Every daffodil signifies one more donation towards ending cancer. On a deeper level, for those fighting the little yellow symbol of life is a message. That message? You are not alone. Individuals and communities are out there in numbers helping to carry on the fight. Local Campaign Coordinator Connie Beranek says every year she vows to step back from the campaign and then every year someone new in her life is diagnosed. Beranek's involvement with the society began over two decades ago in Vancouver, continued with a decade of involvement with Relay for Life, and now she chairs the Daffodil campaign every year. Always looking for new volunteers and new ideas, Beranek can be reached at daffyconnie@gmail.com.
So, if you are out and about in Sparwood in the month of April, look for one of the donation boxes. Current locations include the East Kootenay Credit Union, the Royal Bank, Western Financial Insurance, the Sparwood Public Library, the BC Liquor Store and The Silver Fox Pub. Beranek wishes to thank all of the volunteers, businesses and donors that make the campaign such a success each year; and reminds everyone to help fight the fight.