Day centre gets the care it deserves

Forget Me Not manager Dr Tina Darkins with Whangarei ASB branch manager Vanessa Reynolds.

The Forget Me Not adult day care centre in Whangarei has found Santa really is true and does bring gifts after the organisation won a surprise grant from the ASB Good as Gold - Santa Edition grants.

As well as a cash donation to help the centre out, ASB will pay for the clients' Christmas party and a Christmas party for the centre's volunteers.

Forget Me Not manager Tina Darkins said the grant came as a big surprise; the centre had no idea it had been nominated by the Whangarei ASB branch.

When she arrived at the centre last Friday morning she was met by ASB manager Vanessa Reynolds and others, and presented with flowers and the grant.

"The clients were so delighted, everyone was," Dr Darkins said.

"We fight so hard for funding at Forget Me Not and to have that surprise and see how much we are valued by others was very special to us."

Forget Me Not, the only adult day care centre of its kind in New Zealand, provides care for clients from 25-94, including young people with disabilities, the elderly and the frail, those who suffer from memory loss, head injuries or other disabilities.

"We don't charge much for people to come here yet it is such an important service. This money will give us a buffer so we can help others. It gives us a little more sustainability."

Dr Darkins said that as well as providing company, meals, fun and activities for clients, a major function of the centre was to give clients' fulltime carers a break.

She said some of those carers were in their 90s. Forget Me Not is in its 22nd year and operates from a centre that was purpose-built at Tikipunga in 1999.