From left, Christie Gordon, Nora Williams, Tia Loffley, Heath with mum Anna Sutherland, McDonald's Rotorua owner Rob Parry, Bronwyn Allen and Kylie Cardon.
From left, Christie Gordon, Nora Williams, Tia Loffley, Heath with mum Anna Sutherland, McDonald's Rotorua owner Rob Parry, Bronwyn Allen and Kylie Cardon.
Reading about the sick son of a former work colleague has spurred a Rotorua woman into action.
Christie Gordon is a former colleague of Jonno Sutherland, father of 17-month-old Heath who featured in the Rotorua Daily Post last month. Heath suffers from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a condition that affectsmuscular development.
Heath is Type 1 SMA, the most severe type.
Heath Sutherland. Photo/Lisa Quirk
When Ms Gordon read the story, she said it pulled on the heartstrings.
"About four or five years ago [Jonno] worked alongside a group of us at McDonald's," Miss Gordon said. "The first we knew he and his family were dealing with SMA is when we read the article.
"Since then I've rallied some of the old staff together and also spoken to the owner of McDonald's in Fenton St to see what we could do to help. We have planned a hamburger night fundraiser for the Sutherlands."
The Sutherland family with Heath
The idea of the fundraiser is combo tickets are sold in advance and are redeemed on a certain night.
"Between 5 - 8pm on November 12 our group of former staff members, and a few current ones, will work as volunteers at McDonald's and the tickets can be used. Jonno will be working alongside us."
Tickets are pre-sale only and cannot be bought on the night. People can buy tickets by emailing heathsfundraiser@yahoo.com or by going to the Facebook page Makka's For a Cause - Heath Sutherland and messaging the page. The last day to buy tickets is November 11.
"If people would like to make a donation or buy a combo ticket and donate it to someone, they can contact me also," Miss Gordon said.
"We'd love to sell enough tickets to pack out McDonald's Fenton St and believe we can make this the biggest hamburger night in New Zealand. Rotorua is such a great community and I really do believe we care about our town and the people in it."
