
An unexpected cancer diagnosis has brought a work community together to fundraise through an event they are simply calling ‘‘Mates helping a mate’’.
The event is set to take place on May 10, 11 and 12 at Jmac Joinery in Laughton St, Washdyke, and will run as a pop-up shop and auction.
Jmac Joinery owner John ‘‘Spongy’’ McCarthy said the idea came about after a close friend and colleague was diagnosed with a type of cancer for which treatment was not funded.
‘‘The whole idea of it is that most of what is around here is for sale and whatever we sell goes to the fundraiser.
‘‘If for whatever reason we get more than what we need for his health, then the rest will be donated to the hospice or the Cancer Society.
‘‘It’s not about trying to make any money for the business, it’s just trying to get treatment sorted and helping out anyone who needs it.’’
Mr McCarthy said the individual affected wished to remain anonymous as he was not the type who wanted to make a fuss.
‘‘The type of person he is, he said he isn’t taking charity so that’s why I’ve gone down this road. He has helped make this business the way it is, so this is my way of showing him that he is getting something out of the business.’’
He said they would be selling off items they had obtained through salvage projects, created themselves or had donated.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of people coming in asking to donate money which is appreciated but that’s not what he wants.
So, we aren’t accepting any monetary donations.
‘‘What we want is that if you want to make a donation come and buy something and that way it’s part of what he has created and he is getting it back that way.’’

It was great to see so many people jumping on board to get involved he said.
‘‘A hell of a lot of times you’ll find when someone is crook, people just go ‘oh, he is crook’ and there isn’t really any follow-on.
Mr McCarthy said it had been great to see the sheer number of people, from all over the wider community, want to help with the fundraising effort.
‘‘You might normally only get one or two people who would do that for you but he probably has about 40 offering to help to him out.
‘‘I think it really shows what a nice bloke he is.
‘‘We’ve had some people travel down from Christchurch who do a lot of our supply and they have donated materials for a $40,000 kitchen, mainly because they know him very personally.
‘‘So, that will be going up for auction.
‘‘It’s been quite humbling to see just how many people want to help.
‘‘It started off as just this small thing we wanted to do and it has just grown berserk.’’
Artist Steve Molloy, who had only just recently returned to South Canterbury after 20 years away learning his craft, was also lending a hand.
‘‘I moved back about a month ago but I had been coming back and forward over the last couple of years due to family health.
‘‘I thought while I was down here I might as well start creating and getting back in touch with friends and family.
‘‘I got in touch with ‘‘Spongy’’ and he said that I should come and have a look at what they have in the yard because he knew I made a lot of work out of recycled materials.
‘‘He said ‘you can have a space here if you want to create and just go for it’.
‘‘He has been so supportive and then when this fundraiser came up he asked me to jump on board and create some works to be put up for sale.’’
Since then, the award-winning sculptor has been using salvaged materials such as Oregon wood, various recycled metals and even old house piles to create a variety of different sculptures that will be available for purchase.

He said it had been a blast.
‘‘It’s like adult kindy in here.
‘‘Honestly, I just walk around and then, boom, I’ll get an idea.
‘‘I’m hoping to have eight pieces up for sale.
‘‘What I’m doing is showing the diversity of what I can do and price-wise they’ll range from $1500 up to $15,000. It’ll be a real wide variety.’’
He said it was nice to have been asked to be a part of the fundraiser.
‘‘It allows us to be part of that healing process.
‘‘Normally when someone gets cancer they just go and you don’t get to time to say what you need to say or do what you need to do.
‘‘This fundraising event allows people to express that and be part of the healing.’’
All three days of the fundraiser will run from 10am to 3pm.
The sale items will be available for viewing on Friday, May 10 and the sale and auction itself will take place on the Saturday, with Sunday being used as an after-auction sales day.