10 July 2023
Volunteer Jan Adams, from the Hibiscus Coast, was recognised this year for 30 years of service. After originally intending to be a patient visitor she soon realised that her true talents lay in raising vital funds for hospice.
When Jan signed up to volunteer for Harbour Hospice she put her name down to be a patient visitor. But her mother had only recently died and a volunteer trainer recognised that she was still grieving. “She actually said I’d be terrible at it,” Jan laughs. “So she suggested I join the fundraising team instead, and she was right - it was the best advice I could ever have been given.”
Jan turned out to be a fantastic fundraiser, alongside her peers raising more than $1 million for Hospice over the years. Projects have ranged from garage sales to home and garden tours, fashion parades, Christmas campaigns and more. The most challenging was publishing a recipe book with recipes from staff, volunteers, patients and families. But it was also their most successful, bringing in $60,000.
Many of the projects the women tackled with “no idea” what they were doing, Jan claims. “But that was a blessing or we wouldn’t have started anything!” Jan has made lifelong friends through her fundraising work.
She also served on the board of trustees for 10 years and “gave” the board her husband Des when she stepped down. Des has served on the board for seven years. She’s a member of the Caring Quilters group, which creates quilts for Hibiscus Coast patients.
