Kiwis open hearts, wallets for Givealittle campaigns
Causes broaden in the 10 years since the website began
New Zealanders have opened their hearts and wallets to donate more than $17 million to Givealittle pages set up this year. Over the course of 2017 the crowdfunding website has been home to everything from campaigns raising money for pets in need, to a page raising money for the losers on TV3‘s show The Block NZ.
The 2017 figures weren’t finalised yet, but as of December 3, $16,984,026 had been donated through the site. Just three weeks later a page set up for the family of a taxi driver killed in a hit and run incident pulled in another $77,000.
Spokeswoman for the site Lynne Le Gros said it looked likely the total for 2017 would be close to the 2016 total of $21,161,735, or slightly ahead.
Le Gros said the hefty sum of the donations so far this year showed just how much of a “generous bunch” Kiwis were.
Next year would be the site’s 10-year anniversary. Le Gros said it had come a long way — the first campaign put up on the site was for a Kiwi who had an accident overseas.
Since, she had seen causes branch out. People were appealing for help to achieve their personal dreams or business goals and campaigns “bigger than you and me” had helped fund relief following natural disasters.
Six months after an Auckland mother of four was widowed when her husband was hit by a car, she described donations made to a page set up for her and her girls as a “lifesaver”.
Daniel (Dann) Kopa, 34, was hit by a car on Hobson St in central Auckland in June. He was rushed to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition and died after his life support was turned off two days later.
His wife, Calli Cleland, said her life was turned upside down as she was thrust into her “worst nightmare”.
Speaking to the Herald after the family’s first Christmas without Kopa, Cleland said the funds had meant she and her girls could stay in their house and didn’t have to disturb the life they had built.
The funds also meant that Cleland, who was on maternity leave at the time of the accident, could take more leave to be with Harper, 5, Zoey, 3, and her 15-month-old twins. She said it had been hard tackling the holiday season without Dann, the hardest moments cropping up in the lead-up to Christmas. Zoey had taken the loss particularly hard. She had been seeing a counsellor after having a breakdown several days after her dad’s death. “On Christmas Eve she was looking through photos and I asked her ‘What are you doing?’,” Cleland said.
“She was looking for a photo of just her and Dann and then she carried it around crying. She does get it and it just makes her heart break, again and again.”
Cleland said the funds would help with her girls’ education. She was planning on taking the girls to Bali, where the couple had honeymooned.