More cancer patients to benefit from Moments in Time Trust

For the past six-years the Moments in Time Trust has been helping indigent cancer patients through the proceeds raised from the sale of calendars, diaries, DVDs and other inspirational Moments in Time products. Believing so in the project and its potential to keep helping people living with cancer, a group of four dynamic woman, under the banner of Cancervive, have raised and donated R100 000 to the trust.

“It started with a very conscious decision to do something for the fight against cancer - but spraying or shaving our hair, fundraising tea parties, and wearing pink ribbons in October was too insipid for us,” says Cancervive spokesperson, Karin Biggs. “We not only wanted an initiative that would raise substantial funds, but needed a blue print that would enable us to raise awareness, while celebrating the lives of cancer survivors. It was clear to us that it was not a one dimensional exercise and so creatively set out to design a very special plan to achieve all three of our goals.”

The final decision relied heavily on brave women - a combination of survivors and public figures - who agreed to pose as body painting models for internationally acclaimed body-painting artist, Stefanie de Beer. Professional photographer, Celeste Scheepers, captured the artworks on film, to deliver a striking final product - a combination of art and photography.

These stunning images, which included painted hands, full bodies, backs and abdomens, were enlarged, framed and sold to corporate sponsors. Each individual artwork was sold at a cost of R15 000 to the sponsor, who was in turn invited to select a hospital or charity of their choice so that the artwork could be donated on. “This approach allowed for further education, reach and awareness creation because of the talk value of the art. It also sought to encourage and spread the message of hope,” says Biggs.

Like the Moments in Time ideal of spreading hope using imagery (and poetry), part of the success and appeal of the Cancervive project lies in the uniqueness of the art, which instantly draws in onlookers and invites them to enquire.

Moments in Time project director and AstraZeneca executive director, Prof Matt Haus says, “For the most part company social responsibility (CSR) projects have a particular hallmark that at best can be labelled as corporate and traditionally operate within the confines of a particular CSR map. This is what makes our Moment's in Time project and the Cancervive Life after Cancer campaign a perfect partnership. Both defy the usual and present partnerships between the public and private sector that are as unique as they are effective and can be considered a bold display of good citizenship.”

Cancervive model and cancer survivor, Lunette Brondani, says that “Being diagnosed with Cancer is a chilling realisation that your life, hopes, dreams, ambition and everything that drove you, has been abruptly interrupted. Your life, as you have known it up to that moment, has been suspended and nothing will ever be the same again. Miraculously, most women challenge this ‘death sentence', triumphing over this disease, showing themselves and others in this situation that you can survive cancer. Cancervive pays tribute to these women and inspires those still fighting. Being able to help those less fortunate to fight as I have done, is an honour and I am privileged to have been one of the launch portraits for Cancervive's first fundraiser.”

To help needy cancer patients not on medical aid, make a donation to the Moments in Time trust, or purchase Moments in Time products from www.momentsintime.co.za, or simply call 0861 66 66 00.