Charity ball boosts food bank

EVAN TUCHINSKY

Continuing a tradition of bringing caregivers together to benefit the community, first-year doctors pulled off another successful Wairau Hospital Charity Ball, raising around $8000 for the Marlborough Food Bank.

The annual event, held October 18 at Allan Scott Winery, drew over 60 attendees in formal attire. Along with sipping wine, dining and dancing, they bid on items donated by local businesses for a silent auction and live auction.

“The tradition at Wairau is the first-year doctors organize the ball from scratch,” said Dr Kiriahi McKee, one of the six newcomers who started their planning in March. They did inherit a “template” and contact list from their predecessors; while they chose a familiar beneficiary and venue, they put their own stamp on the Saturday night.

“We’re not allowed to pick any (cause) too specific, like a medical condition, because if we pick Parkinson’s (disease for example), the Cancer Society will say, ‘What about us?’” Kiriahi explained.

“The last few years, it’s been the Marlborough Food Bank, namely because of the cost of living crisis and food in particular getting so much more expensive.”

Previous host Allan Scott again waived its hire fee. A wide range of Marlborough businesses – hotels, restaurants, shops, activities and, of course, wineries – contributed auction offerings.

“We’ve had a lot of generous donations,” Kiriahi noted, “and a lot of the people who donated them gave them to actually thank us. Maybe they had family members in (hospital), or they themselves have been in. I collected something from someone I discharged the day prior.

“They all said, ‘Thank you for your work, and we hope you have a good night.’ With a gentle reminder that it’s all going to charity, the support we have from our community is phenomenal.”

Since its inception, the gathering also has had an ancillary benefit.

“It is a charity ball, but part of it is to give back to the staff; to have a really lovely evening and to be with each other,” Kiriahi said. “It’s always at the tail end of winter, when staffing is the worst and the hospital is the busiest, so we’re all pretty tired.

“It gives us something to look forward to and to celebrate our mahi at the hospital.”

None of the first-year doctors comes from Marlborough, though Kiriahi is from Wellington and Max Meffan is from Nelson. Louise Daly and Taylor Keyes hail from Christchurch. Geraldine Ting from Brunei and Jeff Wu from India, international students at the University of Otago, complete the group.

Wairau Hospital Charity Ball is important to them and their colleagues, Kiriahi explained, because “we see people at their worst and their most vulnerable, but we don’t forget the struggles that are out there in the community that people face every day. So it’s a real privilege not only to serve the community whilst they’re in hospital but also to give back in a space that we don’t really work in.”