COMMUNITY
The Marlborough community is so important to our charity, it is part of the backbone in supporting what we do. Here we celebrate the highlights of the all the great things that have been happening that we want to tell you about.
9 August 2023
We got a LOVELY
email today from a mother of a child we gave a box to recently. I’ve adjusted it slightly to keep it confidential, but as you can see, what we do is so important to many.
“To the amazing people at SSFI Marlborough I just wanted to express how truly grateful I am for everything you did for (child’s name) 5th Birthday. They had an amazing Birthday and first day of school, all thanks to you and your wonderful kind hearts. I will remember your kindness always. ~ (Mums name)”
I’ve included a pic of a box that went out today for another child in need, we are pretty busy. We have 12 kids that we are helping start school this month!
2 August 2023
A huge shout out to PAK'nSAVE Blenheim for jumping on board and supplying us with sponge cakes each month so we can decorate them and give them to our kids who will start school on their 5th birthday.
We believe that acknowledging the child’s birthday in a special way makes them feel special and celebrated, which helps create self-worth and confidence to start school feeling ready.
This is often a huge boost to the family too, feeling seen and important by their community. We are seeing more and more evidence that our support is getting children to school when they turn 5, rather than it being delayed because the family cannot gather up everything the child requires.
Getting children to school equipped with their school bag, uniform etc means they’re ready to learn and are not as hindered by the hardship they are facing.
Thanks for joining us Pak’n Save Blenheim!
31 March 2023
The 4th & 5th box just went out for the week to the Health Hub. The wonderful nurses there see children for their before school check and often pick up on kids whose family is possibly not getting support from anywhere but are in hardship.
And that is March and the financial year complete!
We have officially had a massive 104 referrals this financial year! Easily our biggest year and we are super proud to be reaching these kids who need help being prepared to start school.
11 March 2023
Eli and Stefan Kahu completed their Fund Run of 156km EACH over 48 hours to raise money for us!!
We are pleased to announce they raised over $4500!!
We are incredibly grateful for their epic effort and hope they recover swiftly.
Thank you to everyone who contributed by helping the boys, Marlborough Lines Stadium 2000 for hosting the event and to everyone who has donated so far! INCREDIBLE!
1 February 2023
C O M M U N I T Y
It’s what is keeping us going.
So many amazing humans right here in Marlborough!
This time we had 4 bikes donated by Matua winery.
Part of their Christmas function involved a team challenge which cleverly involved giving to a charity. Teams had to build brand new bikes from scratch the fastest!
They’ve just had their safety checks done with Bikefit Marlborough and have been delivered to us! That includes helmets too - EPIC!
Thank you so much to those involved with donating these bikes. Absolute superstars!
1 February 2023
Doing what we can to spread the word that our little charity is here in Marlborough supporting children facing hardship with everything they need for to start school.
4 January 2023
We are seriously excited about this event! Check out Page 3 for this article in tomorrow’s Blenheim Sun!
Ever so grateful for Stefan and Eli choosing us and putting in some major mahi to raise money for our charity. They are running 156km each over 2 days on treadmills at Marlborough Lines Stadium 2000 from 9th March.
Legends!!!
4 December 2022
A few weeks ago we had the tremendous honour of winning the Marlborough Community Award 2022 for Community Social Services!
A big thank you to Volunteer Marlborough and the Marlborough District Council for recognising the work we have been doing. To have this recognition is incredibly valuable as it reinforces to us that we are making a difference and will keep working hard in the direction we are going so we can do more.
18 November 2022
We have set up a lovely Christmas Giving Tree in the Marlborough Lines Stadium 2000! A huge thank you to the staff there and the O’Dwyer class at Rapaura School for coming along and decorating our tree with the beautiful decorations you made.
Plus, a shout out to Gary at Roadtrips Marlborough LTD for getting the kids there and back in style in your wonderful double decker bus. To donate simply choose a tag with a item/s you’d like to go and buy to donate, bring it back and pop it under the tree and put your name on the tag and hang it on our tree. Easy!
All items on the tags suit what Marlborough 5-year-olds starting school who are facing hardship need. They need to be bought new and unwrapped.
30 October 2022
We are starting to really get some incredible support from all sorts of places.
We are now very privileged to be supplied with KidsCanNZ shoes and jackets for our Tamariki in need starting school. HOW COOL IS THAT!
These shoes and jackets are amazing quality and suit the requirements of most, if not all the schools here in Marlborough which is perfect!
Thank you so much to this incredible charity for supporting us in our mission to support children facing hardship by making sure they start school with what they need.
23 September 2022
Another successful delivery received today by the lovely Corrine at Maataa Waka.
We have one more delivery for September and we will reach our 150th box!!!
That is 150 children since we delivered our first box in July 2020 who have been able to start school when they are ready with everything they need and confidence knowing that they are valued, allowing them to focus on settling in at school while enjoying their learning journey.
On this box we have an Aroha sticker stating that Marlborough Artisan Craft Markets generous donation covered the cost of this box, they have continued their generous support this year for which we are truly grateful.
Thank you so much for your support Marlborough.
22 September 2022
Last Wednesday night we had the pleasure of attending a Blenheim and Beaverton Lions Meeting. We had been asked to present our charity to them. We could not believe that we were also there to receive a $10,000 donation from them! If you haven't' seen it already, here is a cheeky screen shot of an article in the Blenheim Sun Newspaper - we are on page 3 if you want to have a look in your one.
We were humbled and blown away by the donation and the comments we received from the members, it was clear that they feel we are making a difference and our personal touch to what we give the children is important too.
Thank you again Blenheim Lions Club & Beavertown Blenheim Lions, your support means everything to our little charity.