Flowers wilt but donations hold up well

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times

EVEN PLASTIC IS FANTASTIC: Daffodil Day collector Pam French pins a flower on Invercargill City Council parking warden Paul Stenton during the Cancer Society's annual appeal in Invercargill yesterday.

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Daffodil Day collectors in Southland have reported a similar take to last year's appeal, despite the spring disappearing from most of its flowers.

Cancer Society Otago-Southland chief executive Wendy Houliston said the organisation had been very apologetic this week, after 35,000 daffodils wilted just a day after arriving in Southland.

It was the first time in the 19-year history of the appeal that such a thing had happened, she said.

"I don't think people were angry, they were just disappointed."

Ms Houliston said the problem emerged on Monday when the first batch of daffodils arrived from the Canterbury-based supplier for distribution to Southland businesses.

The society managed to import a few thousand new flowers into the region in time for yesterday's appeal, but not enough to fully cover the damage, she said.

"It just meant we didn't have many fresh flowers to hand out, but we still had the fabric flowers and the day is about charity so no-one demanded their money back."

The supplier had admitted fault and agreed to refund the cost of the flowers, Ms Houliston said, but added she was unsure how much that would be, or whether other regions had also been affected.

Despite the hiccup, initial reports from collectors suggested this year's collection was on par with last year, when $184,080 was raised in Southland, she said.

The final street collection total would not be known for another week, while the final tally from internet and phone donations would take a bit longer, she said.

Cancer Society national spokeswoman Katherine Monks said the organisation had not been hampered by recent bad press about charities spending too much on operating costs and not filtering enough money back to their cause.

About 12 per cent of the money raised on Daffodil Day was spent on fundraising, and the remaining 88 per cent funded the society's work, she said.

"I think it's positive that people are asking these questions and demanding transparency."The Cancer Society's national Daffodil Day target was $5 million, she said.

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