A Great Blue Do
They raised thousands in one afternoon at their Blue September event for Prostate Cancer Foundation. It was a social afternoon with an auction commencing at 2pm last Friday on the eve of the big rugby weekend for Whitianga. Auction time was 4.00pm.
The bubbles flowed, but so did orange juice and water. Goodwill was everywhere as people crowded into the business premises of Harcourts right in the centre of main street Whitianga. It was most unusual to open up your business premises so fully to the public, including the bathrooms, but in the end, it was a good idea that worked well for Harcourts and all the participants. About eleven staff were engaged in helping make the event work - greeting, sharing nibbles, serving drinks, recording final numbers, organising payments, talking to the guests. All the systems to enable people to pay for their auctioned items and provide everyone with their receipts were available right then and there.
The local businesses had been so incredibly generous. There was everything from sound cancelling ear phones to high quality makeup, a dog cage/kennel complete with fluffy blanket, car cleaning and polishing kits, art works, electric tools, vouchers from many of our local stores - butchers, cafes, hardware, salons, pizzas, groceries, services by tradies, clothing. These were all packaged generously into parcels of like products that could be auctioned as one gathered item. Bids started low but often rose to lofty heights with the leadership and humour of auctioneer, Steve Bridson, from Harcourts, Thames. Shannon Smith, organiser and co-ordinater of The Blue Do, co-hosted this event impeccably, assisted by Grace Penne and the team of Harcourts colleagues who had all assisted in some way to bring about this fun and positive event for their community. The last item to be auctioned was a Chiefs Rugby shirt, signed by all of the Chiefs team(pictured) and which went under the final hammer blow for over $300.
Dayle Candy, Manager of Harcourts Whitianga, closed the auction with a big thank you to her team and to all those who attended. and everyone there applauded the businesses and individuals who had generously donated goods for auction.
This ‘DO’ was a big commitment and would have been costly. Real estate companies don’t have to do this kind of thing. The theme for this blue month of September is “Do something blue to help a mate through” Well done Harcourts, you had succeeded before the auction began. Who knows how the money raised will help the treatment of prostate cancer in New Zealand. We trust that it will. What we do know is that awareness raising and normalising what is often not spoken about will help men in general and their families to check and then check again.
Caption: Grace Penne shows some of the items donated for the Blue
Do