April is the Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Month, so the sunny spring flowers will be for sale at the beginning of the month and there is a new way for people to contribute to the campaign.

Lori Stevenson with the local Canadian Cancer Society said aside from purchasing fresh daffodils, residents can also show their support by wearing a daffodil lapel pin throughout April.

"This will be the second annual pin campaign. It was a pilot program in B.C./Yukon last year that was so successful that it's gone national this year so it is right across Canada, which is really exciting," she said. "It was nice for us to be a part of that pilot program. It's a feather in the cap of the citizens of B.C. that they made this program so successful. We're very, very excited about that."

Stevenson said she hopes to see many lapel pins in the communities and issued a challenge to the citizens of Cranbrook and Kimberley.

"I would like to see everyone in Cranbrook and Kimberley sporting a daffodil pin in support of either a loved one, a friend, a memory of a loved one or friend, or maybe even for themselves, to commemorate a fought and won battle with cancer," she said. "I would love to see everyone with a daffodil lapel pin on throughout the month of April. That would be awesome."

April has been Daffodil Month for over 60 years and this year is no different. Pre-orders for daffodils have been taken and will be delivered this week and live sales will be at the Tamarack Mall in Cranbrook and at Overwaitea in Kimberley.

Lapel pins are available at A&W, Arby's, Save on Foods, Pharmasave, Shoppers Drug Mart, Great Canadian Liquor Warehouse, M&M Meats, the B.C. Liquor Store, Chevron, ABC Restaurant and City Hall in Cranbrook. In Kimberley you can get a lapel pin at the Mark Creek Market, A&W, Overwaitea, the Snowdrift Café, Shoppers Drug Mart, Bear's Eatery and the B.C. Liquor Store.

All money raised by the daffodil fundraisers will go to the Canadian Cancer Society's mission of eradicating cancer and enhancing the lives of those fighting the disease.

Eradication is helped through education as 50 per cent of cancers are preventable through a combination of healthy lifestyle, diet, exercise and maintaining and healthy body weight, Stevenson said.

"Part of the eradication of cancer comes from education and advocacy for safer public policy, like the ban on cosmetic pesticides," she said. "Research of course is a biggie, with $48 million spent on research alone across Canada in 2010 and that only accounted for 15 per cent of all approved research projects because there simply isn't enough money to go around. It's a never-ending quest and heaven forbid the cure for breast cancer or maybe prostate cancer might be sitting on the shelf. That's why we can never stop fighting."

Enhancement of the lives of those fighting cancer is done through various support programs. A financial support program provides assistance to those who have to travel for cancer treatment. Another program, called Cancer Connections, pairs a person with cancer with another person with the same form of the disease.

"This will connect a cancer patient with someone who matches very closely to their demographics and details and has undergone the same cancer battle they are going through to provide support and encouragement and frank information about what their cancer treatment was like," Stevenson said. "That opens up across the country. In our small communities if you have a rare type of cancer it might be difficult to find someone with the same disease nearby. You may be talking to someone in Newfoundland and the program provides the long distance calling card for that so there's no expense."

There is also a cancer information service, which is for anyone with any question around cancer, from questions about the links between cell phone use and brain cancer, to someone diagnosed with cancer with questions about what to expect. The service is available in 139 languages and has access to experts with the most up to date scientific information.

All of the Canadian Cancer Society's support services can be reached by calling 1-888-939-3333. You can also call the local Canadian Cancer Society office at 250-426-8916.