Faces of Hope: Kate Nicholls
This month we introduce Kate Nicholls as our Face of Hope. Kate currently works as a Director and Senior Consultant with Avant Group, a leading business strategy and government consulting firm. Kate has qualifications in mechanical Engineering and also holds a Masters of Marketing and Post Graduate Diploma of Management from Melbourne Business School.
I have been with Fight Cancer Foundation for just over ten years now.
I am a volunteer Director of Fight Cancer Foundation. My Board involvement requires regular meetings with fellow board members and review of foundation activities. I provide advice and input into all manner of both business and financial operations with a strong focus on marketing opportunities and activities.
I have also only recently taken over as the Committee Chairman of one of Fight Cancer Foundation’s major fundraising events, Red Ball Melbourne. This is an annual ‘must attend’ event on the Melbourne social calendar.
Red Ball enables Fight Cancer Foundation to raise vital funds to meet its mission of giving hope and saving lives. Each year a crowd of 650+ people attend (with the event typically selling out within weeks of the date being announced). We have performances from leading global entertainers and our fabulous Patrons, Deborra-lee Furness and Hugh Jackman are regular attendees. In fact, it was Deborra-lee’s mother, Ms Fay Duncan (AM) who originally created the event in collaboration with Founding Director, the late Mr. John Opie (OAM) over 25 years ago. I took over from Fay as Chairman in 2015.
Red Ball Melbourne has been so popular we have now launched a sister event in Adelaide and I hope I’m not letting any secrets out, but also possibly Sydney soon.
I was working in a leading industry-based association and we were running a range of corporate fundraising events. This led to an opportunity to partner with a charity. I undertook a large amount of research to find a not-for-profit that was financially responsible and invested the majority of funds into research and care – the purpose of its existence as opposed to infrastructure/wage costs and that had moralistic values in line with the company in which I worked at the time. After interviewing several entities, Fight Cancer Foundation was selected as it met the moral standards required of an alignment of that nature. Since then I became more and more involved as I understood just how much work Fight Cancer Foundation does with the community and for those needing care.
Working with the foundation is truly rewarding. I get to work with a team of passionate and dedicated people that are focused on the same thing – finding a cure and helping those fight cancer.
Blood cancer is an insidious disease that affects far too many people and I know that through our work; we get closer every single day to finding the cure. Fight Cancer Foundation is working with researchers who are successfully discovering more effective treatment regimes and providing a support infrastructure for those that are affected by the disease. Whilst we join together on the mission to fight cancer, we are able to provide support to those affected and undertake bone marrow transplants to actually save lives.
Further to the research and treatments, the foundation has three major accommodation centres; located in North Melbourne, Hobart and Albury. The infrastructure and support provided by the team of people working in these centres is truly amazing. Cancer doesn’t just affect a patient, it affects families. Via these centres, families can stay together whilst enduring the challenging treatment regimes needed to fight the disease.
I went to the annual Christmas party at the house a few months ago and whilst there I saw children, whilst mid treatment, suffering the physical effects of chemotherapy and transplants, running around, full of beans, and beaming with excitement when Santa came to visit. They could do this because there was a home away from home that enabled it; they got to spend Christmas together as a family. That is so special. It is the support of donors and volunteers that creates this environment. Every cent donated, every minute spent volunteering and every moment of support counts; and I get to see it.
I look forward to the day when blood cancer no longer exists. I am also confident, in witnessing the remarkable, groundbreaking work that the industry is undertaking as a whole, that I will get to see that day too.
Fight Cancer Foundation saves lives. What more reason could anyone ever need to be involved?
