Southlanders all over the region will be donning red, black and white today in support of 'Buy A Brick Day', to raise awareness and funds for the Southland Charity Hospital. 

Funds raised from Casual Friday can go towards buying supporters’ bricks or plaques as a method of donating much-needed funds to the Southland Charity Hospital.

The Southland Charity Hospital is Blair Vining's legacy. He tragically died from bowel cancer in 2018 but before then, it was his and his wife Melissa's dream to make sure no one else in the community should have to go without the health care they need. 

Blair’s wife, and Southland Charity Hospital board member, Melissa Vining said she was overwhelmed with how fast the community – and the rest of New Zealand – had got behind the cause. 

The Buy A Brick campaign launched on July 3 and as of yesterday afternoon, 3149 of the 5000 available (which there is space for) bricks had already been sold. The bricks sell for $100 each and can be engraved with small personalised notes. 

Plaques can also be purchased for $500 which will be displayed in the Blair Vining Memorial Garden at the hospital. 148 plaques have been sold so far totalling $74,000. 

That's a total of $388,900 raised from bricks and plaques sales already before Buy A Brick Day has even begun. 

Mrs Vining said when she first began the project some people told her it would take four to five years to raise the funds required to build the hospital. 

But now – one year after establishing the Southland Charity Hospital Trust – Mrs Vining said she thinks the bricks will sell out before the end of August.

The Southland Charity Hospital trust already has $500,000 in hand and is looking to raise another $500,000 through donations to hopefully start working on the hospital build in September. 

"The sooner we start working on the building, the sooner we can start admitting patients who desperately need our help," she said.

Local businesses, groups and schools have been getting very creative in showing their support for the cause by making quirky videos, encouraging people to donate.

The Winton Fire brigade made a viral video to Bruno Mars' hit song "Uptown Funk''.

Midlands Rugby Club, Pirates Old Boys RFC and Star RFC made a funny video passing the ball between clubs and challenged other clubs in Southland and Canterbury to take part.

Windsor Architectural Hardware made a video with staff and donated $5000 to give each of their staff members a chance to have their own brick.

Safety 1st NZ did a humorous strip dance to encourage donations.

Macaulay Ford also challenged other Southland car dealerships to make videos to raise awareness for the cause. 

"I just love that all the other businesses are getting together, it's really positive and collaborative... every couple of minutes my phone bleeps with a new video that's been made," Mrs Vining said. 

She said it made her "very proud to be a Southlander".

"Our sincerest thank you, for everyone who has got on board with the red, black and white day, it's really hard times for people at the moment with COVID, but it brings us heaps of comfort and hope that we'll get the hospital open and will be able to help the people of Otago and Southland. 

Today also marks the official handover of the Clifton Club Inn – gifted by the ILT in February as the future site of the hospital – which will take place at 2pm.

Manual donations now available after an elderly Tauranga woman phones 105 Police number asking how to buy a brick

Two days ago, Mrs Vining and her team received an unusual but heart-warming email from the NZ Police. 

An elderly lady from Tauranga had phoned the 105 police information number asking how she could 'buy a brick' to donate to the Southland Charity Hospital as she did not have access to a computer.

A member of the police communications team then contacted the Southland Charity Hospital on behalf of the woman, asking if Mrs Vining and her team could call the lady who was so determined to help the cause.

“We did a manual purchase of a brick for her over the phone.” 

"It was super sweet," said Mrs Vining, who was over the moon that both the police and the woman had gone to such lengths to support the cause.

Considering this, the Southland Charity Hospital has partnered up with the team at SBS bank in Invercargill so now those who don't have a computer can head along to the bank to buy a brick manually.