The beneficiaries of Dry July that can help your organisation
Every year in New Zealand, 29,000 people are diagnosed with cancer – that’s an average of 71 people a day with 18,000 of those people falling straight into the workforce age range.
Look Good, Feel Better (LGFB) is a fundraisings-supported charity organisation that’s been helping cancer patients for 30 years. They are one of just three beneficiaries of the money raised by Kiwis during the Dry July fundraiser this year.
“We do anything and everything in the community to fundraise and keep going. If any organisation wants to go dry in July and do some fundraising to support us, that’s amazing,” said Clare O’Higgins, general manager at Look Good Feel Better.
O’Higgins is on a mission to make sure all employers know that if they are supporting people with cancer in their workplace, the free services on offer from LGFB are something they should have in their toolkit.
Feel Safe as an employer
“Having a program like Look Good Feel Better means that as an employer you can feel safe knowing that the wellbeing of your employees with cancer is being looked after,” said Higgins.
“One of the things that we see is people come to us so they can continue to work. They actually want to be able to handle and continue work and so they come to us for the tips, tools and techniques to be able to feel more like themselves,” said Higgins.
LGBF runs 41 in-person clinics across the country with 340 classes planned this year. They also run online programs designed to help people face cancer with confidence. Offering advice on everything from experiencing hair loss and practical tips for eyebrow application to managing anxiety.
The whole person is cared for
“We ensure the whole person is cared for in terms of their mental and physical wellbeing. Whether you need to know how to tie a scarf, or put your brows on, or if you just need to have a moment, having a program like Look Good Feel Better means that as an employer you can feel safe knowing that the wellbeing of your employees with cancer is being looked after,” explained Higgins.
Insurance Business reported the organisation has been receiving funding from the Dry July initiative since their first grant application in 2016.
“Dry July funding from 2022 went into 38 new on-demand videos. So, you can go to our website, and you can watch, you can play back, and they’re all practical tips and tools for you or your family who may be going through treatment,” said O’Higgins.
The charity has also produced a range of podcasts called “Cancer Conversations”.
“This means that, in the privacy of the podcasts, you’re able to listen to advice from professionals and those who have actually gone through treatment, including one recently about navigating going back to work following treatment and the impact that that can have.”
“What Dry July has done for Look Good Feel Better is allow us to continue to evolve our programme as our participants have asked,” said O’Higgins. “Everything that we do is participant-led, and that’s really important, too.”
