HAVE you ever wondered where the beautiful gift baskets at the Cairns Hospital cafes come from?
The hard-working hands of Darrylene Paterson, is your answer.
Darrylene has been a volunteer with the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation since 2010 in various roles.
Foundation volunteer manager Anne Chirio said staff soon realised Darrylene’s talents in making up gift packs for fundraising raffles.
“Foundation commercial manager Steve McGuiness felt her talents would be very useful for the café in making gift packs and Darrylene’s talents have skyrocketed. She also helps me with gift wrapping and the Christmas stocking.”
Darrylene makes about 300 baskets a year, which are always in hot demand from customers.
Her gift baskets are themed and hot sellers at both dcafé and Sea Breeze Café at Cairns Hospital.
Mr McGuiness said the gift packs were a clear winner for customers and have become a regular feature in both cafes that offer mini-gift shops.
The cafes feature quite a variety of gifts including toiletry packs complete with a toiletry bag, mini deoderants, tissues, soap, shavers, nail kits, face washers etc because not everyone knows they are about to go to hospital.
Special gifts for birthdays, newborn babies or sometimes a gift just to brighten someone’s day also are catered for. There are balloons, handmade greeting cards, flowers and fluffy toys and our baby gift packs have always been a popular choice.
“We are very lucky to have Darrylene as part of our volunteer team – she is very creative and her gifts bring a lot of joy to visitors and patients alike,” Mr McGuiness said.
The Foundation also is looking for volunteers to help with Christmas Wrap – contact Ms Chirio by phoning 4226 8993 or email volunteer@fnqhf.org.au.
