FINISHED GALLERY

The bag is finally finished after sewing 32 hours over 3 days, and I have had the chance to shoot some photos of it, so here they are! I hope you love it. Once again, the link to the auction is here. The auction closes on Thursday the 24th of October at 11:45 am, so get bidding!

Auction Details

The link to the online auction is here

In the auction, the bag I have created is for sale, along with vouchers from Mae Shoes in Mairangi Bay and Crave Home in Birkenhead. The auction closes at 11:45am on Thursday the 24th of October. Please save the date and make sure to keep an eye on the bidding to ensure you don't miss out on the chance to secure this gorgeous bag and support an amazing charity. Let me know if you have any questions - 2507@carmel.school.nz

About Avery's Bag

My name is Avery Turner, and I am currently finishing Year 13 at Carmel College, where I have studied for seven years. I have taken Materials Technology for all of my years here, and this year we have been given lots of freedom for our project. 

I contacted the Well Foundation, looking to work with them and raise money for their foundation. They work to support and fundraise for hospitals in Auckland and have had many successful projects. They were extremely positive about my project and we decided to focus on fundraising for their Diagnostic Breast Screening Service. I began to conduct research and design my outcome to later auction off in the hope of making a positive difference. 

I originally had my heart set on making a beautiful, feminine flow dress that would empower and uplift women, as this was the aim of my project. I began to find some hiccups with this as since I was aiming to auction off my end product, I did not know what size and shape the final owner would be. I was emailing with Juliet, my contact at Well, and she mentioned that her and her cousin were playing around with making leather bags, and from there Mrs Goonan (my wonderful teacher) and I decided that this was the way to go. 

Handbags are something that are so personal to women and are often a meaningful investment. This is exactly what I wanted to achieve when I was developing my project, and is now what I have created. 

I have designed and created a functional and aesthetic hand bag that fits into everyday life, something that is an extension of your arm. It is sturdy and has so many features, all whilst being sustainably sourced and handmade. Above is a photo of my mock up. 

It would make such an amazing difference to the lives of those suffering with Breast Cancer if you contributed to my project (whilst buying yourself a new bag!) as all money raised goes to help fund the new Screening Center, making it easier for patients to get treated in the same place at the same time instead of having to travel all over and far from home, dragging out treatment time. 

About the Well Foundation

The Well Foundation is the official charity supporting North Shore and Waitakere hospitals and community health services extending up to Rodney.  With support from the local community, they raise funds to help advance healthcare for everyone - babies, children, adults and the elderly. Working directly with Waitemata District Health Board to fund projects and initiatives that improve health outcomes, lift the quality of patient experience and deliver world-class care. I really admire the work they do and wanted to contribute to fundraising for one of their current projects. This year, one of their major projects is the Diagnostic Breast Service or DBS. Here is a little bit about the work they are doing towards this and why, from the amazing Juliet Tweed.

'Our aim is to build a world leading breast cancer service which can be replicated around New Zealand to save more lives through faster cancer diagnosis and treatment

Currently, we have too many patients, waiting too long for diagnosis from medical clinics spread too far out across the region leading to poor patient outcomes for many and even avoidable deaths.

Our aim is to build a new facility in one single place where patients can attend all investigations and clinics in one single day so a quick diagnosis can be made. Currently, medical tests are done in three separate locations across North Shore / Central City and often scheduled weeks apart which can see some patients waiting many weeks for a diagnosis. And sometimes that’s just too late. With a rapidly growing population, the aim is to treat more patients more quickly, reducing anxiety whilst awaiting a possible cancer diagnosis and ensuring treatment is planned quickly.

The Well Foundation is responsible for raising $2M towards the $4M project. We have around $700K to go thanks to donor support and an amazing $1M pledge from Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. This partnership will allow patients of the DBS access to the support network provided by BCFNZ with ease, which as some or many of you may know is such an important factor when someone is faced with a life changing diagnosis such as this. 

Currently, much of the Waitemata region’s Cancer Treatments are centralised at Auckland City Hospital, but a wider aim is for patients to get great healthcare closer to home. I’m sure you heard the government’s recent announcement of investments in Cancer Care in the regions nationally to help cope with travel times for treatment which is fantastic news for people who might have multiple hour journeys to seek treatment. With Auckland’s increasing population and road congestion the inner city campus is struggling to cope.
A new, innovative, responsive model of care is needed now as the pressure on the system is expected to continue to increase. Referral volumes at North Shore Hospital alone were 50 per week in 2012, increasing to 70 per week as of 2017 and forecast to be 100 per week within 5 years. This new model of care, with the aim of ‘triple testing’ – imaging, assessment and biopsy on same day for most patients, in one single location, is based on the world leading breast cancer service in Nottingham UK.

Philanthropy is needed here as budgets at North Shore Hospital, in fact all hospitals nationwide are severely under pressure. We so value community support like Avery’s project to help not only raise funds but raise awareness for what we are trying to achieve in our community. The generosity of our supporters helps us help the Waitemata DHB strive to provide its promise of ‘best care for everyone’.' - Juliet Tweed, Fundraising Administrator.