The paper donated a portion of its advertising sales from Wednesday’s paper to the centre as part of Community Journalism Day.

Mail-Times journalists and sales representatives were out in the community throughout the day, working from various locations in Horsham.

Editor Jessica Grimble and sales manager Clint King met with Wimmera Health Care Group’s Don McRae and Amelia Crafter on Wednesday afternoon to announce the fundraising total.

Mr McRae said every little bit helped in the centre’s fundraising target.

He said he hoped the centre would be completed by the end of next year.

“We’ve been through a rigorous design phase,” he said.

“We had the initial floor plan put up and we then looked at everyone’s wish lists for what they wanted to see in the centre.

“We then negotiated that with the various service providers that are going in there.”

Mr McRae said the centre was moving forward.

“We have finished all the documentation now and the floor plans are done,” he said.

“We are just about ready to go to tender, so that’s really exciting.”

Mr McRae said once the tender process had finished, he hoped construction on the centre would start early in the new year.

He said the centre should be built by the end of next year.

Mr McRae said people could view the completed floor plans at the Wimmera Health Care Group’s annual meeting on November 23.

“We’ll have a stand there with information on the cancer centre,” he said.

Mr McRae said the centre was needed in the region, as so many people in the community were touched by cancer.

“We have been running oncology services at the hospital for a little while, but we have outgrown the small space,” he said.

“That’s why a few years ago we had the idea to try to expand on what services we had.”