Tea anyone?

From left to right: Taegan Guthridge, Linh Doan, Vivien Ferizis, Juanita Clare, Wayne Gauci, and Ines Seringer at the Sydney location. They are all smiling at the camera. — Team effort Taegan Guthridge, Linh Doan, Vivien Ferizis, Juanita Clare, Wayne Gauci and Ines Seringer from the Sydney office (from left to right).

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is an annual, nationwide community event to raise funds for the Cancer Council. The non-profit is dedicated to cancer prevention and research as well as providing support to cancer patients and their families. Participants are free to choose how they want to organize their tea, whether it’s a small gathering at someone’s home or a larger event with dozens of coworkers. “It’s a chance for friends, family and colleagues to make it personal, come together and raise money for this important cause,” explains Taegan Guthridge, a Service Co-ordinator for ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions (RMS) based in Sydney. Although Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea has been around for over 30 years, the tea became an annual event at ZEISS Australia because of Taegan’s own experience battling cancer and that of her co-workers.

Joining forces for a highly personal cause

In 2020, Taegan and her colleague Megan were diagnosed with cancer, and their colleague Vivien found out that her cancer had returned. Curing and preventing this disease suddenly became an especially acute and highly personal issue. In response, the Sydney office hosted its first Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea the following year.

Taegan and Vivien have since undergone treatment and their cancer is in remission. “Unfortunately, Megan lost her battle with cancer on Christmas morning 2023,” says Taegan. “But that made this year’s tea particularly significant.”

What started at the Sydney office has since expanded. Working together with colleagues at the ZEISS sites in Sydney, Tonsley and Castle Hill, Taegan helped organize the most recent Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea on 23 May 2024. She is quick to stress that this year’s event was a true team effort: her colleagues Linh Doan, Wayne Gauci, Vivien Ferizis, Ines Seringer and Juanita Clare all pitched in at the Sydney office; and Kylie Bruce and Sharda Kumar took the reins at Tonsley and Castle Hill, respectively.

Chocolate microscopes and a playmobil figure

“We started brainstorming ideas about what fun things we could do to get people involved two months ahead of time,” says Taegan. For this year’s on-site tea, the organizers solicited donations from local businesses for a raffle. They were even able to acquire the much sought-after Playmobil figurine of company founder, Carl Zeiss. “I reached out on Viva Engage asking if anyone could get one for me,” says Taegan. “Tanja Zink from ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology in Oberkochen sent one. I’m very appreciative of the kindness shown by a ZEISS colleague whom I had never met.”

This year’s tea also featured games and a bake sale. Inspired by her passion for baking and baking shows, Taegan decided to add an especially unique touch: she made homemade chocolate microscopes. These took a lot of trial-and-error but proved a hit at the tea. “I only took the best-looking microscopes to work,” she says with a laugh.

The event topped the previous year’s strong result by raising 11,051 Australian dollars, including a 5,000-dollar donation from ZEISS Australia. Taegan and her colleagues remain committed to continuing their participation in Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea next year. Whether or not there will be chocolate microscopes has yet to be decided, but the event is sure to help the Cancer Council continue its life-saving research.