Mr Cutler, principal of Cutlers Real Estate, is a strong supporter of the Otago Community Hospice.
He says the ODT campaign - which aims to raise more than $200,000 for the hospice from businesses throughout the province - is for a "very worthy cause".
"It think it [the campaign] is wonderful," Mr Cutler said yesterday.
"I was very impressed with it."
Allied Press, the publisher of the ODT, on Saturday announced it had donated $20,000 to the hospice and challenged other corporates to support the campaign with donations of more than $5000.
Businesses which join in will be profiled in the ODT, and its sister community newspaper publications in Otago, The Star (in Dunedin) and The Lakes District and Central Otago News.
Cutlers Real Estate has already made a difference for the hospice.
This year the firm auctioned, commission-free, a house left to the hospice by the wife of a former patient. The sale raised $285,000 for the facility, which "made a big dint" in the hospice's debt at the time, Mr Cutler said.
Cutlers also recently joined a group called Fundmax, a fundraising tool for groups to raise money by referring people wanting to sell their property through a participating real estate company. This allowed clients to donate $500 of the commission from the sale of their property to the hospice.
The business, which also helps with the hospice's annual street appeal, had set up a monthly automatic payment to its donation fund.
Mr Cutler said the sum was not very big, but every bit helped.
"It's a very easy organisation to help because it's going to affect everyone," Mr Cutler said.
He learnt the importance of having a place which helped a person leave the world, as opposed to a hospital which kept a person alive, when his mother was in the hospice's care, he said.
He felt there was dignity in the way his mother was cared for and he saw the hospice as an important organisation to support.
"We have to look after it."
• How can you join the "Help the Hospice" campaign? Contact Otago Community Hospice chief executive Ginny Green on 473-6005, email her on ginny.green@otagohospice.co.nz, or deposit money directly at any ANZ bank by filling out a deposit form for the Otago Daily Times Otago Hospice appeal. And, of course, donations from individuals are always welcome.
