Like many beautiful, small tourism towns in New Zealand, Te Anau has felt the effects of COVID-19, and the recent February floods in Southland, hard. Many businesses have been feeling the pinch with far fewer visitors passing through than usual, so much so that Te Anau Pink Ribbon Breakfast organisers Leona McCracken and Jackie Knowles said, at first, they considered not going ahead with this year's event.

"We weren't going to do it with the community financially struggling this year... but then a few of the older ladies in town approached me who really wanted to still do it and now the event has taken on a life of its own."

"We only have 20 tickets left out of 130... it hasn't been sold out like that for a few years.”

"It's absolutely blown me away how supported it's been," Ms McCracken said. 

Ms McCracken has been organising the event for the last four or five year,s and with good friend Jackie Knowles for the last three years. In the past the event has been hugely successful for a small town – being among the top 10 Pink Ribbon Breakfast fundraisers in the country.

Last year it raised $7000 and this year it is on track to a $1000 more than that already. 

The whole community has rallied together to support the event and help in any way they can. 

Cruise Milford and Faith in Fiordland are donating $20 from every adult fare sold on Saturday, August 1. Te Anau Auto Electrical are donating pink tool kits to be raffled off, as well as pink doughnuts made by Wapiti Bakery to be purchased for $5 each. Local restaurants The Fat Duck and La Toscana have created special dishes just for this weekend, the proceeds from each will be donated to the cause. 

In addition, 300 Pink Ribbon T-shirts have been ordered and will be on sale for $25 each at the Olive Tree Cafe from tomorrow (July 29).

The masked pink morph, guess how many bras in the jar, and the table centerpiece from last year's Pink Ribbon Breakfast in Te Anau.

Sizes range from size 12-22 and all profits will be donated to the Pink Ribbon Breakfast. 

"We want to encourage all businesses and people in Te Anau to wear pink. [We want to] 'pink out' Te Anau," Ms McCracken said.

The Olive Tree Cafe is also donating cupcakes to the breakfast, Te Anau local Karen Priestley is preparing a special Pink Ribbon Breakfast cake for the third year running and Invercargill based clothing retailer ‘Amelia-May Italian’ has donated a pink linen dress to be auctioned off. 

There are numerous raffles up for grabs, including a mix of hampers, meal vouchers, kids’ toys, and screwdriver sets, all of which have been donated by local Te Anau businesses. 

One lucky person will get to enjoy two-night explore Milford and Te Anau package. The package being auctioned includes two nights at Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park, a tour of Milford road with Fiordland Tours, a Milford Sound cruise with Cruise Milford, packed lunches from the Olive Tree Cafe and a meal at the Ranch Bar & Grill. 

Mrs Knowles said her biggest passion in doing the Pink Ribbon Breakfasts was to raise awareness on early breast cancer detection, carrying out self-examination, and getting along to your doctor at the earliest possible stage.

"I want the education out there and to make it fun," she said. 

She said breast cancer did not just affect older people, as it could be commonly thought, and it was occurring in more and more younger adults now. 

According to the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation 6% of breast cancer in New Zealand occurs in people under the age of 40, 25 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and on average nine women are diagnosed with it per day. 

"Our huge focus is young people at the moment. There's a [growing] number of 20 to 40-year-olds getting diagnosed [with breast cancer] so we've got to get the awareness out there."

The Te Anau Pink Ribbon Breakfast is being held this Sunday at 10.30am, at the Te Anau Club. Tickets, available from the Olive Tree Café, are $30 (with the total amount of the ticket price being donated to the cause).