When passing through Canungra, you could be forgiven for thinking that there is a festival happening. Turning Canungra Pink is a month-long campaign of awareness and fundraising for cancer. It all began in 2010, when a local cafe owner named Di, who also was a breast cancer survivor, was the first person to fundraise for Cancer Council Queensland. Since then, the community of Canungra has continued to raise funds for this worthy cause.
The month of October is when the town’s community and business owners come together to decorate the streets with pink flags, signs, and bunting. The shop owners decorate their shop fronts with all the shades of pink and recently residents have started to decorate their mailboxes, which creates some very colorful displays around the town. It is heart-warming to see the people and volunteers from a small-town community come together to have fun and raise money for such a devastating disease.
With each year, the fundraising and awareness grew until in 2014, it was too much for a hand full of people to run and organize. It was decided by the community to create a committee, “Pink Assist” to continue to fundraise. In the beginning, all funds were donated to Cancer Council, but in 2018 it was voted that 50% of the funds raised would stay in the community of Canungra to assist residents that had some form of cancer.
Since 2018 over $55,000 has been distributed through Pink Assist to help members of Canungra that have or had cancer, with everything from cleaning to medical expenses, hospital parking, and fuel.
“It is a good feeling that a small town’s community has supported these people through their illness and are able to assist with a helping hand in their time of need”
So next year in the month of October keep an eye out for the events that happen every year. You can find out more about Turning Canungra Pink here.
We are very proud of our efforts and contributions towards Turning Canungra Pink with the annual event that we hold here Country Mile Escape, “Opera at Sunset” featuring Tenori. Our recent 2022 event with Tenori was a great success and was enjoyed by all our wonderful guests for the evening. Look out on our social media for next year’s dates.
