About the event

The Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet was first held in 2013. Back then, it was a much smaller event and in that inaugural year, it doubled as a fundraiser and an opportunity to introduce Craig Tamblyn, Hospice Waikato’s new CEO, to the Hospice community.

Held every year since then (except for 2020 due to a COVID related interruption), the Bucket List Banquet has grown to be an iconic Waikato event. It’s a night of fabulous food & entertainment and, with more than 1,000 guests, it’s a fantastic networking opportunity for businesses in the Waikato.

The evening also provides an opportunity for our business community to support their community hospice – Hospice Waikato. If asked, most people would describe the core business of Hospice Waikato as the ‘delivery of specialist community palliative care’, which means we look after adults and children who have a terminal or a life limiting illness. In reality, we do so much more than that.

When a patient is referred to Hospice Waikato, we wrap a bubble of care around the dying person and their family and whānau, and we provide a variety of support services that stretch far beyond the medical and nursing care that is so often associated with Hospice Waikato. Our team of doctors, nurses, counsellors and social workers, music and massage therapists, our kaiawhina, and our support staff and volunteers are focused on ensuring that the patient lives every moment.

Providing this special support to people at such a vulnerable time in their lives is a privilege and our Hospice Waikato team are very proud of the compassionate, personal and thoughtful way in which they care for people at the end of their lives.