{"id":626941,"date":"2026-10-11T02:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/626941\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T02:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:44:09","slug":"on-the-up-cancer-society-whangarei-lodge-raises-22m-walls-go-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/626941\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Up: Cancer Society Whang\u0101rei lodge raises $22m, walls go up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cancer Society Northland regional manager Charli Timms said 30 years\u2019 experience running Domain Lodge<\/a> has helped design the Northland facility, which will include communal kitchen and dining areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where people can come together and support each other in their journeys. It\u2019s that extra level of support that helps get people through these tough times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timms said a range of options were considered \u2013 such as a cheaper, second-hand motel or series of houses \u2013 but each would have been a compromise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an opportunity to purchase that land<\/a> [on Hospital Rd] and be able to achieve exactly what we wanted in Northland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to compromise for Northlanders, they deserve better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $22m raised shows the need for and support of the project, Timms said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe walls are going up on the 20-bedroom Northland Patient Accommodation Lodge on Whang\u0101rei’s Hospital Rd, which Cancer Society Northland regional manager Charli Timms (inset) says will be life-changing for patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe philanthropists and community groups have been incredible. The amount of money that was raised by the community<\/a> \u2013 I\u2019m blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n

With final project costs expected to be $22.5m to $23m, the Cancer Society was in the final stage of fundraising, with just under $1m still needed.<\/p>\n

The lead contractor was Argon, the company that built the $60.9m radiation oncology unit, Timms said.<\/p>\n

After significant earthworks, the lodge reached a milestone last week with lower walls starting to go up.<\/p>\n

Timms said building work was expected to be completed by August 2027, with the lodge planned to open by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

\"CancerCancer survivor Walter Norman, who makes his own k\u0101nuka oil at his Te H\u0101pua home, says the new lodge will be great for patients like him.<\/p>\n

Te H\u0101pua cancer patient Walter Norman believed the lodge would make a significant difference for future Northland patients.<\/p>\n

The 80-year-old had to make long journeys away from home, family and community after his diagnosis, often leaving the country\u2019s northernmost settlement at 3am for hospital appointments in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges of travelling more than 400km to treatment, Norman was full of praise for how he was treated at Domain Lodge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just couldn\u2019t get over all the kindness that came from everyone there,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gave me a bit of faith in humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community members interested in supporting the lodge can go to northlandlodge.org.nz<\/a> to find out more.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cancer Society Northland regional manager Charli Timms said 30 years\u2019 experience running Domain Lodge has helped design the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[88189,62925,15408,1558,682,6658,138,2534,29419,2241,173,1132,111,139,1536,1067,69,90,1597,2081,11596,2935,64786,223,810,24034,1869],"class_list":["post-626941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-22m","tag-accommodation","tag-almost","tag-been","tag-being","tag-built","tag-business","tag-cancer","tag-go","tag-hospital","tag-lodge","tag-million","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-patient","tag-raised","tag-raises","tag-society","tag-societys","tag-the","tag-up","tag-walls","tag-whangrei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}