By Violet Li
Ten supermarket chains in Cranbourne have banded together to fundraise for one of their team members who’s going through a difficult time in the family.
Elsie, a 16-year-old working at Woolworths Hunt Club, dropped out of school after her mother Joanna was diagnosed with bowel and liver stage 4 cancer in November last year.
On Thursday 27 June, Woolworths chains across Cranbourne had a WEAR BLUE DAY to fundraise for Joanna where everyone dressed in blue, a colour for bowel cancer. The fundraising has continued beyond the day, with the GoFundMe barcode still visible everywhere in the supermarkets.
Originally from New Zealand, single mum Joanna raises two teenagers on her own and has no family in Australia.
“Mum is not feeling off and on. So basically, she had an appointment the other week. They’ve said that she’s never going to be off chemo. She’s going to be on chemo for the rest of her life,” Elsie said.
“It was very stressful. Just too stressful to stay in school and concentrate.”
After finding out about Elsie’s family situation, Woolworths Hunt Club’s officer manager Suzie Cap and customer service manager Rebekah O’Reilly just wanted to help out financially.
“She [Elsie’s mum] is in a lot of pain,” Rebekah said.
“She works when she can at her desk, but that’s only part-time at the moment. She’s gone from full-time work to part-time work because of cancer. And she’s raising two children by herself with no family here.”
The fundraising started with the Biggest Morning Tea, and Suzie and Rebekah decided to branch out to do an individual one to help Joanna personally.
“I just mentioned it to my store manager and then he went to the group manager, and she was just like, yeah, let’s do this,” Suzie said.
“The group manager met Elsie. And it was her attitude and her willingness to work and just how pumped she was.
“Everyone just got on board. I think it was just a ripple effect.
“One store had T-shirts with the GoFundMe barcode on the back of them, so if customers, as they were walking around, wanted to donate, they could scan the code.”
“She’s one of our youngest team members. She works really hard all the time. She picks up any shifts that you ask her to do,” Rebekah said.
“You can see that she wants to help her mom. And we’re moms ourselves.”
The joint efforts across ten stores have helped raise about $9,000.
“I feel so amazed seeing everyone help out. It’s just honestly amazing,” Elsie said.
To help, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-joannas-cancer-fight
