November 2023 update
An incredible $563,053 was raised in this year’s Bandanna Day campaign to help provide support to the 23,000 young people who have their world turned upside down by cancer each year. The Pillow Talk partnership was a vital part of this success, doubling $70,000 of donations on Bandanna Day into $140,000!
Canteen is thrilled to appoint Pillow Talk as their 2023 Principal Bandanna Day Partner to help provide comfort to young people impacted by cancer and their families.
Canteen is the only organisation in Australia dedicated to providing tailored support for 12-25 year-olds dealing with cancer, whether it’s their own diagnosis, a close family member’s or the death of a loved one. Pillow Talk is proudly a family-owned company, providing comfort to Australians in their homes and in the community for 45 years.
National Bandanna Day, held every October, is Canteen’s iconic fundraising and awareness campaign now in its 29th year. It will launch in August, building to the high-profile national day on 27 October 2023. Pillow Talk has supported Canteen with the sales of their bandannas across their store locations for many years, so accelerating their involvement to principal partner, was a natural next step.
With Pillow Talk’s support, Canteen hopes to raise an additional $200k to ensure more young people get the support they need to deal with the immense challenges of cancer. The funds raised will be committed to face-to-face counselling and peer to peer support programs to reduce feelings of distress, isolation, depression, and anxiety. Bringing comfort to Australians is one of Pillow Talk’s core values, so they feel very aligned to the incredible work that Canteen does.
In support of the campaign, the Pillow Talk in-house designers have created two limited-edition bandannas that will be available for purchase from the end of July across their 65 stores and online through pillowtalk.com.au, as well as the Canteen website.
In addition, Pillow Talk will also give 10 Canteen counselling spaces around Australia a ‘comfort make-over', providing cosy products like blankets, throws and cushions to help young people and their families feel more comforted during their counselling sessions.
Canteen CEO Peter Orchard stated “Being young is supposed to be fun, but unfortunately some young people have to face the terrifying news that they have cancer or that someone they love has been diagnosed. The good news is that when cancer’s in your life, Canteen is in your corner. With Pillow Talk’s support, we are going to be able to deliver counselling and peer to peer support to more young people. For that, I want to say a huge thank you to every Pillow Talk staff member and customer.”
Taryn Fullelove, Pillow Talk Brand and Events Manager stated “We are excited to support Canteen. One of our key values is giving back to the community and by supporting Canteen’s Bandanna Day campaign we feel there is a genuine connection. We are excited to see Australians wearing our bandannas in support of our decision and feel honoured to supply products that help young people, and their families feel more comforted when living with a cancer diagnosis. Our stores are located in many towns around Australia, and they genuinely love to get involved with helping the community. The Bandanna Day initiative also encourages our customers to help feel they can support the fundraising effort.”
