Agfest Field Days
Posted on 03 February, 2020
CANTEEN Official Charity for Agfest 2020
Agfest is delighted to announce that Canteen Tasmania is the Official Charity Partner for Agfest 2020
Every year, another 23,000 young people aged 12-25 are affected by cancer, whether it’s a close family member’s diagnosis or their own. That’s why Canteen provides practical and emotional support tailored to the needs of young people. Through Canteen, they learn to explore and deal with their feelings about cancer, connect with other young people in the same boat and, if they’ve been diagnosed themselves, we provide specialist, youth-specific treatment teams based in major hospitals across Australia.
Shae Chester, State Manager and National Community Educator, says Canteen is proud to be chosen as the official charity partner for Agfest 2020. “More than 600 young people in Tasmania are impacted by cancer every year, and in our efforts to build the leadership skills of some of these young people we’re excited that they’ll be organising our presence at this event. There are many parallels between Rural Youth Tasmania and Canteen’s young leaders, so we know that being Agfest’s official charity partner this year will allow us to increase our exposure to not just those young people who need our support, but the patrons, exhibitors and wider community who stand with us.”
Young people impacted by cancer are up to six times more likely to face mental health issues like depression and anxiety than their peers. After just six months of support from Canteen, almost two thirds of young people impacted by cancer report improvements in their mental health and overall wellbeing.
Georgia Richardson, 20, says: “I’m so thrilled and grateful that Agfest chose Canteen as the charity of choice for their 2020 field days. It’s a nationally recognised event that has attendees from all around Australia which means we can spread the word of Canteen far and wide to have the best chance at supporting as many young people affected by cancer as possible. It’s also going to be such a great personal experience to be a part of something so big and share my story on such a huge scale in the hope that I can help other young people realise they’re not alone in their cancer experience.”
Agfest Chairman Ethan Williams notes “that many of our Rural Youth Tasmania members have been touched by cancer in some way in their lives. We are proud for our committee to have taken this opportunity to support an organisation such as Canteen who assist those in our members age demographic.”
Shae hopes that Canteen’s presence as Agfest 2020 Official Charity Partner will “raise awareness among all demographics as they engage with and learn from our young people about how they can be supported through a cancer journey”.