A BENDIGO woman is calling on the community and businesses to come together next month to help raise money for her friend\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
Jayme Hudson is planning a movie night at the Bendigo Cinemas on Friday, 9 July for Vanessa Makoni, a 26-year-old mum given three to six months to live as her acute myeloid leukemia transformed into myeloid sarcoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to ask for help let alone ask for help for money for my own funeral, it\u2019s really hard but this is what we\u2019ve got to do because we can\u2019t afford it,\u201d Ms Makoni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOtherwise, we\u2019re just going to end up literally burning me and giving me back in a box.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s right, my family doesn\u2019t want that for me. We\u2019re doing the best we can, my family and friends, to raise enough money to give me a proper send off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally, Ms Makoni planned for only a viewing and cremation after her own passing, but Ms Hudson was determined to raise the funds to cover a basic service of around $6000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just didn\u2019t sit right. I said \u2018if we found the money, would you go and plan and have a service?\u2019 and Vanessa said \u2018I\u2019d love to but how am I going to find that money?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought \u2018yep, I can make this happen\u2019, so I just tried to think of different ways to raise some funds and a friend suggested a movie night through the cinemas, so I spoke to them,\u201d Ms Hudson said.<\/p>\n
The $35 tickets to Black Widow<\/em> include a popcorn and drink combo and raffle ticket, with $17 from each sale going to Ms Makoni\u2019s funeral costs and $18 to the cinema.<\/p>\n Ms Hudson is also asking local businesses to donate what they can to the raffle.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a strong community, I just really want everyone to band together and get behind this family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAny donation or voucher isn\u2019t too little, it\u2019s all going to add up.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Makoni\u2019s husband, Folau, left his job so the family could be together, and they have since been living off a GoFundMe started by a neighbour in March.<\/p>\n Ms Hudson hopes donations made in the upcoming fundraiser will pass the $6000 mark to ensure her friend gets the service she wants, like upgrading her casket to a white one.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of that\u2019s really pushed me to try harder and raise as much as we can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Any money that remains after these service upgrades will be put towards future costs for Ms Makoni\u2019s daughters, Havana, five, and Haizel, three.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there is any money left over, I don\u2019t want to use that for myself because it\u2019s useless for me to buy any material things or anything like that,\u201d Ms Makoni said.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to save that for any costs that my kids might have in the future for their school or anything like that, just practical stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n