DAFFODIL DAY IS returning with in-person fundraising next month for the first time since 2019.

The Irish Cancer Society’s annual fundraiser, which moved online in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19, will be back on the streets again on 25 March.

Volunteers interested in getting involved can register to sell daffodil pins in their local community, or throughout March can take part in a steps challenge by walking 279,000 steps during the month and raising donations.

Daffodil Day items, including daffodil pins, are available on the Irish Cancer Society’s online shop.

Donations will be accepted on the Society’s website or over the phone, or by texting DAFFODIL to 50300 to give €4.

CEO Averil Power told The Journal that the funds raised will go towards “a range of vital services”.

Those include the Society’s Night Nursing service, which provides end of life care for patients in their homes and its Volunteer Driver service, which transports patients to their hospital appointments.

Additionally, funds will go towards “free cancer counselling and our Support Line as well as financial assistance for families impacted by childhood cancer”.

Funding will also be allocated to cancer research and clinical trials.

Power said those will help to “ensure patients have access to more effective treatment and are supported to live the best possible life after a diagnosis”.

We know from speaking to our many hundreds of dedicated fundraisers around the country that they’re so excited to be back out on the street and shaking buckets in support of people affected by cancer, who have had such a difficult last two years in particular. 

In a statement from the Society, Donna-Marie Cullen, a cancer survivor from Dublin, said it was “there for me throughout my treatment, because I was alone for one week out of three in the hospital”.

“I’m forever grateful for what they’ve done for me. They’ve helped me and so many families in this country, and it’s because of people who have donated to the Irish Cancer Society, especially on Daffodil Day.”

Power said the Society is “so excited to be able to get out on the streets again to see the amazing support the people of Ireland show to anyone affected by cancer”.

“The pandemic showed us how we can achieve incredible things when we come together with a purpose,” she said.

“Now we must focus this effort on making sure we don’t go backwards on the progress made in saving lives from cancer.”