The touchstone of CanTeen is the belief that young people, through meeting and talking with one another, are better able to cope with the uncertainties of a cancer diagnosis.

A diagnosis of cancer at any time is traumatic, but even more so for a young person - already facing issues of identity, independence, relationships and career. Cancer is not a death sentence, but it can mean the start of a long process of painful treatment and years of uncertainty.

CanTeen members are able to participate in camps, recreation days, seminars, workshops and most importantly share their hopes and fears, partake in decision making, meet new friends and have fun together. CanTeen provides a peer-support model where young people who have 'been there done that' can share their cancer experiences with others in similar situations.

Woolworths is CanTeen's biggest national reseller of CanTeen merchandise during the National Bandanna Day appeal. Each year Woolworths staff get behind National Bandanna Day and encourage shoppers to dig deep and pop a bandanna in their shopping trolley. Woolworths has been a long time supporter of the good work of CanTeen and together with the support of our customers and staff have raised in excess of $3.3million for CanTeen since 2002.

"CanTeen is the Australian organisation for young people living with cancer. We rely completely on the support of the community and on partner organisations like Woolworths in order to fund our work. Money raised through donations and through events like National Bandanna Day funds a wide range of camps and other programs bringing together young people living with cancer. In recent years, Woolworths has sold nearly one-third of the total number of bandannas and pens sold by CanTeen—raising a total of $2 million dollars over the three years of the partnership so far. This is the largest amount raised through any of CanTeen's partnerships."

Andrew Young
Chief Executive Officer
CanTeen

For more information about CanTeen visit www.canteen.org.au/