Hospice awareness week: Rotorua charity wants to start the conversation about death

Rotorua Community Hospice fundraising and marketing manager Jessica Meade encourages people to have important conversations about death. Photo / Annabel Reid

Rotorua Community Hospice is giving away a coffin to get people talking about death.

“I know that sounds pretty morbid,” fundraising and marketing manager Jessica Meade said.

But being provocative was the point.

If people will not start the conversation themselves, Meade said hospice would.

The campaign is part of a wider initiative for this week’s national Hospice Awareness Week called No One’s Getting Out of Here Alive.

It encouraged people to plan, talk openly about death and understand the support hospice provides.

Rotorua locals could enter the draw to win a handcrafted coffin for $10 per ticket, with sales running until May 31.

The coffin will be made by Rotorua’s Kiwi Coffin Club.

The club formed in 2018 after transforming a Ti St warehouse into a workshop creating professional coffins and caskets.

The coffin will be made to fit the winner, and they can pick the colour, but any further customisation would cost.

There would also be a cost for the club to store the coffin if needed, or the winner could make alternative storage arrangements.

Meade wanted to create awareness around the support hospice offered.

“We can help,” she said.

There was “a lot of fear associated with death”.

Even working in an environment where death was talked about more than usual, she still felt “anxious”.

“Being uncomfortable doesn’t mean you’re not going to die,” she said.

Conversations could ease the fear, and making a plan was also a “really kind thing to do for your family”.

Meade had seen how the end of a person’s life could be “complicated” when they did not have a will or enduring power of attorney.

Writing funeral preferences and documenting final wishes avoids leaving loved ones guessing during “vulnerable times”.

Meade said this message applied to people at any stage of life.

Hospice had tools to help, including a Peace of Mind Planner that stepped through the relevant questions and information. These were available to buy for $25 at Hospice Shop Rotorua.

Fundraising remained “really important” for the charity, with hospice receiving about 50% of its funding from the Government and the remainder needing to be raised by the community.

Rotorua Community Hospice usually has about 120 people in its care at any time and needed to raise about $1.2 million annually.

“We are really lucky that we have a super generous community,” Meade said.

Darrius Strickland and Holly Tuhakaraina won Harcourts Dancing for Hospice in 2024.

Its premiere Rotorua fundraiser, Harcourts Dancing for Hospice, will return to the Energy Events Centre on September 19.

It is back after a year in hiatus - last year replaced by the glitzy Vegas Showtime event.

Meade said this year marked the 10th anniversary of Dancing for Hospice, which launched in 2016, and people should “expect a few surprises”.

Hospice is looking for individuals and couples with little dance experience to take part, with 20 dancers set to be selected and trained before performing on the night.

Meade said more male applicants were needed.

Those interested in registering for this year’s event can email fundraising@rotoruahospice.co.nz.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.