Nursing fund closing in on target

A long-forgotten fund is only $1200 short from being able to begin supporting the professional development of nurses in Aoraki.

The Kit McGuire Nursing Fund was established last year after trustees of the Kit McGuire Trust resettled with the Aoraki Foundation funds they discovered in a lost independent account.

The fund consists of a sum of money Kit McGuire — a local nurse who died in 1973 — left as a legacy to support nurses after her death.

When the new fund was established last year it was sitting at $41,250 and needed to reach $50,000 before it could be used to award an annual scholarship to a South Canterbury nurse in their third year of training.

Aoraki Foundation gift and community adviser Kirsty Burnett said after setting up a static display at the Timaru Hospital and celebrating nurses like Kit at last week’s International Nurses Day, the fund was close to reaching its target.

"Last week with the display at Timaru Hospital there was $3000 raised.

"We are now only $1200 from the target so that this fund will be able to start distributing.

"We are hoping that a generous person will want to support nurses in training and will be our hero donation to get us over the line to reach the $50,000."

More information and how to contribute to the Kit McGuire Nursing Fund can be found on the Aoraki Foundation website. — Allied Media