Can Assist Celebrates 70 Years

Junee Celebrated Can Assist’s 70th anniversary by giving back to the community with a free fun day, featuring activities, games, and music from 12:00 pm at the Junee Bowling Club. 

For seven decades, Can Assist has stood beside country cancer patients -providing practical support, easing the burden, and showing care through the power of community. Fiona Rynehart, President of Junee Can Assist, told the Junee Independent about how the day went and also filled us in on their catering work at the Illabo Show last Saturday.

“It was so much fun, we had a great team of ladies and men who helped out. It was so good. We had our usual sandwiches and our beautiful scones. Wonderful cooks in Junee. I had four amazing women cooking scones for me, and they just went down a treat,” she said.

“At the 70th anniversary on Sunday, we were inundated with families. It was so lovely to see. They had so much fun. They did over 50 faces for the children’s face painting.

“It was just amazing. People were having sausage sandwiches all day. We had the lovely dipping dots and then the Three Dutchies. The lady at the Three Dutchies was inundated with coffee, hot chocolates, ice drinks and ice-cream, and drinks for the kids. It was just so good.

“My absolutely fantastic catering team did such a great job with all the bits and pieces and toys and activities they did for the kids.

“Two founding members, Rita Broad and Maureen Fitzgerald, came up and they cut the cake for the birthday celebrations.

“To top it all off, the Bowling Club have been raising funds on the side and they made a lovely donation.

“Jackie Starr had a group of ladies there. They went on a bike ride, and they came up and donated money also. “I had people everywhere. I’ve never talked so much in my life. It was fantastic. Unbelievable.

“Now we’ve got the Junee Show coming up in under two weeks, so we’re getting organised and we are having meetings this week and the week after, so we can do the catering on the Friday and Saturday at he Junee Show. “Then we’ve got Move for Life on the 1st of November, down at the Rec Centre. We are going to go down there and we’re going to help them out.

“The Can Assist girls are going to put a team in, and I’m going to go down there with pom poms and support them and give them cake while they’re riding on their bikes.

“We’re just so grateful for all our support, and I’m so glad so many of the children had such a lovely time on Sunday. “The Firies gave us boxes of wrapped-up bags of lollies for the kids and little balls. The kids were just running around playing all afternoon. They would have slept very well last night. “It was very nice. The parents got to catch up with other parents, and the children just played in the confined area, so that was very good.

“We just had so much fun with Rita and Maureen. Maureen told us an old story of how the Junee branch started, and everyone listened to that, and it was just so lovely to have them both there and cut the cake. It was a very, very special time for us, and I can’t wait to do a report up for our head office in Sydney.”

– Jack Murray