Ray White offices go pink for a good cause

Ray White New Zealand offices across the network raised thousands of dollars for the Breast Cancer Foundation with their Pink Ribbon Breakfasts last week.

Ray White City Realty Group raised a total of $4000 at their Pink Ribbon Breakfast.

Karen Jackson, the partner of Ray White City Realty Group auction manager Cameron Brain shared a moving story about her battle with breast cancer.

“Karen has battled with breast cancer for the past 24 months having a double mastectomy, but she’s doing well now and is running the Melbourne marathon in October,” Cameron said. “Breast cancer affects every family. I lost my mother to breast cancer so I will always drop everything to do what I can. “This is my third pink ribbon event I’ve volunteered for this year.

“It's a great cause and it goes towards something that affects every family.”

Cameron called the charity auction which raised just under $4000, with all proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Foundation. “We had coffee vouchers, gift hampers, massages, champagne, books, and vouchers for dinners,” Cameron said.

“It was the ideal price point for charity auctions, we even sold a $50 coffee voucher for $250.”

Ray White Waiheke raised more than $7000 with their afternoon tea fundraiser, with members of the business baking up a storm.

“We held a raffle with prizes donated from local businesses, we had a couple of auction items as well including a few different luxury accom, a water taxi, acupuncture, and physiotherapy,” Ray White Waiheke salesperson Helen Cusworth said.

“We had a fantastic guest speaker, Karin Horen, who survived breast cancer twice.

“It’s a fantastic cause which touches everyone, we have a woman in our office who has survived breast cancer.”

Ray White Austar raised a total of $1800 at their Pink Ribbon event, with principal Len Day dying his hair pink for the cause.

“A couple of my staff approached me to do the breakfast and asked me to shave my head, they told me they were going to paint my hair pink before they shaved it and I agreed in order to raise more money for the Breast Cancer Foundation,” Len said.

“They decided to divide my hair up into three ‘blocks of land’ and we auctioned them off, and whoever won the auction got the chance to shave my head.

“The auctioneers, Cameron Hems and Rosie Harvey, did a great job at making it fun and getting people to donate. “I’ve always been a big supporter of the Breast Cancer Foundation, we’ve had people in our team who have had breast cancer as well as people in my own family.

“We had Karen Jackson speak at our event over Zoom, as well as male breast cancer survivor Michael Gee who shared his story to raise awareness about men with breast cancer.”

Ray White Blenheim also held a Pink Ribbon Breakfast, raising more than $600 for the worthy cause.

The team had raised more than $4200 in March at Relay for Life with all proceeds going to the Cancer Society.

Ray White Blenheim principal Angela Bowers said it was a cause close to her heart.

“We hosted a Pink Ribbon morning tea as we’ve had team members be affected by cancer,” Angela said.

“My mum was affected by breast cancer and both of my in-laws sadly died of cancer. “We wanted to raise awareness as it’s very personal to me and everyone in the office.” These are just some examples of the fantastic fundraisers conducted by businesses across the Ray White network.