The previous Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition raised $50,000, so the $20,000 boost was a huge bonus.
It added to the $275,000 raised from the Holly Hospice Trail and $180,000 from the Hawke's Bay Wine Auction.
The $525,000 full result was "so very special", Ms Byford-Jones said.
"We were talking about this the other day - hospices around the country have varied events held for them but I don't think there is any other region in New Zealand that has something like this happen."
She said the operating costs for Cranford came in around $6 million a year and the Government, through the Hawke's Bay District Health Board, provided about half of that.
Cranford's three shops - in Napier, Hastings and Waipukurau - brought in around $1 million a year so the remaining $2 million had to be found through trust grants and donations.
"It is such and amazing community out there and what is also amazing is that a lot of things are going on in the background."
She said staff received calls from time to time, and out of the blue, to say a social, business or sports group had held a fundraiser for them and could they bring the money in.
A recent Watties gold tournament and a Karamu Golf Club event both supported Cranford, as did a small number of women from the Ahuriri Rotary's Inner Wheel who raised $600.
"It all adds up, and we are like anyone else - we have to pay wages and we have to pay the bills."
Mrs Russell said as well as the support it achieved for Cranford, the event had also been gratifying in terms of how it brought people together.
"To see the families all engaging and being part of it - it was really nice."