Big funding push looms on lodge for cancer patients

Phones will be ringing off the hook when stage two of the Cancer Society's Lions Lodge telephone appeal begins next week.
Between 5.30pm and 8.30pm on Thursday, Bay of Plenty residents will be phoned and invited by a Lions Club representative to donate to the new lodge.
Ninety-two Lions Clubs from the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Coromandel districts have taken on the task of raising $3 million dollars to finish the facility, and have urged the public for their assistance and support.
The lodge, in Hamilton, will provide free accommodation to 600 people from around the region, in a "home away from home" atmosphere, while they receive treatment for cancer at the Waikato Regional Cancer Centre.
Hamilton-based television presenter -turned-celebrant Kay Gregory is the ambassador for the Cancer Society Lions Lodge and will be the face of a TV campaign.
Mrs Gregory had no hesitation in accepting the position. She had spent many years as a celebrant working with families who had lost loved ones through cancer.
And the campaign is personal, as her mother has recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"There is nothing that can prepare a family for the news that someone close to them has a life-threatening illness, and now I have a greater understanding of the upheaval this causes," she Mrs Gregory said.
"If my involvement with this campaign can help even in a small way, I know I am doing it for my mum and for those families I've worked with."
The $14.2 million project builds on the Waikato Regional Cancer Centre, first built on the grounds of Waikato Hospital in 1971.
Due to increased demand for the facility, and the Waikato DHB's need to expand its services, the Cancer Society bought the site of the old Braemar Hospital, now home to the new Cancer Centre.
The centre is currently undergoing a major expansion, which is due to be completed by the end of the year.
The lodge will be used by patients living more than 80km from Hamilton who are having radiation and/or chemotherapy.
It will provide free accommodation, with all meals provided, as well as the cost of transport home for weekends.
The 2540sq m lodge will have 50 bedrooms and five family units, as well as IT facilities, massage and meeting rooms, a library, and lounges overlooking the lake.
Construction on the lodge had already begun and it is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
* To make an immediate $20 donation, please call 0900 LIONS, or visit www.lionslodge.co.nz for other forms of donation.