Connie's Diary - Capital Chemist Fundraiser

The Capital Chemist in Kingston look after all my medication, they pack my Webster packs (a packet marked with my morning, lunch time, dinner and night time medications, all prepacked for the whole week, so I can’t forget anything and my pain is managed. It makes taking my meds easy, and they do a really good job and make things easy for me.

I approached them to have a tin on their counter to fundraise for Love Your Sister, but Sandra, the lovely pharmacist wanted to do more. She offered to help me do a fundraiser with them while they give out cake and balloons for Canberra’s 100^th birthday. We organised to have a TV screen with Video of Sam running the whole time, and I had heaps of merchandise to sell, while The Capital Chemist gave out cake and balloons.

I was so nervous before hand because I didn’t want to be pushing the Love Your Sister cause onto people who didn’t want to hear about it.

It turned out I had no reason to be nervous. The lovely people of Kingston were happy to have some free birthday cake, and balloons for the kids, and while they were eating I talked to them about Love Your Sister. I was delighted that a lot of people had heard of us before, either from Facebook, the Project or The Today Show. A lot of people who didn’t know us were happy to hear about our story. Heaps of people bought merchandise and I got a chance to hear about their experiences with Cancer. Cancer is so insidious, it is just everywhere and it effects everyone in some capacity and I felt privileged to share other peoples journeys.

But there were 2 things that really amazed me:

The staff at Capital Chemist were given a lotto ticket by one of their customers, and it turned out to be a winner. Rather than split it amongst themselves, they decided to donate their winnings to Love Your Sister. Some people think of others before they think of themselves. Their selfless decision really touched my heart. How amazing $1019.30 from the generous staff!

I talked to a lot of people at the fundraiser. One young man who I talked to asked for our details, and ten minutes later he returned with an envelope. I was too nervous to open the envelope on the spot, and in truth, the amount doesn’t matter, it is the thought and the act of giving that counts. I thanked him, and after he left, I opened the envelope and found that he had written a cheque for $1000.00! It is so good to see men getting behind a cause that primarily affects women. But through women it affects men, like my being sick effects my husband and my sons. His generosity really moved me.

Another amazing thing about this fundraiser, was working with the staff of Capital Chemist. Usually they serve me, and make sure that I get the medicine that I need, but this gave me an opportunity to get to know them and I had fun working with them, I really did.

This fundraiser raised $2562.50! And we did it all without Sam, the star of the show. I am so happy that we pulled it together, and that so many people donated, and more importantly we spread the word to so many people, don’t fall into the booby trap - be breast aware, and not only to women, but also to men to pass on to the important women in their lives. What a special day.