When Daffodil Day arrives tomorrow one Tauranga woman will be at the forefront of insuring its success.
Maureen Keen has been a volunteer at the Tauranga branch of the Cancer Society for 10 years, inspired by the support received during the illness and death of her partner to cancer in 2000.
Tomorrow she will rise early and co-ordinate teams of street collectors selling daffodils and taking donations for a service she has seen bloom in Tauranga over the past decade.
Mrs Keen donates an average of six hours a week to driving cancer patients to and from medical appointments, manning the phones in the Tauranga branch office and supervising collectors each Daffodil Day.
The retiree said it was a pleasure to be part of the Cancer Society, where she considered herself a "jack of all trades".
"I will slot in wherever I'm needed. It just gives me pleasure in my heart that I can give back to society. I can't explain it, it's just deep in me. So many people out there are touched with cancer and fortunately today there's so much wonderful support," she said.
Tauranga Cancer Society office administrator Adele Marshall said the organisation wouldn't survive without such volunteers:
"She's just amazing, really she's so good."
Mrs Keen does a lot of the driving for the branch and will often wait with patients while they are at an appointment.
"Maureen always goes the extra mile, she just seems to make people feel so comfortable and relaxed about the whole thing," Mrs Marshall said.
At Aquinas College yesterday students raised more than $1000 for the society by sending fresh daffodils to each other with messages of friendship tied to them.
Student health co-ordinator Paula Ngatai said with 800 stems sourced from a Katikati grower, demand from students outstripped supply this year, with fresh chrysanthemums used to make up the difference.
Tomorrow's Daffodil Day donations will go towards scientific research into the causes and treatment of cancer, as well as providing a range of support services, education and awareness campaigns and programmes for people affected by cancer.
Donations can be made by buying daffodils, donating to street collectors, purchasing Daffodil Day merchandise, or making a donation via text, phone or online at www.daffodilday.org.nz