$22,040 raised via new KCE initiative

A total of $22,040 has been raised for 12 organisations in the KCE region this Christmas in a first of its kind charitable initiative run by the electricity retailer during November and December.

The new initiative, dubbed the ‘12 Rays of Christmas’, was one for the whole King Country community to get behind as the holiday season approached.

“The campaign kicked off in November with KCE spreading a special $6000 Christmas donation evenly across 12 carefully-selected organisations from within the areas KCE operates as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for their social contribution to our communities. That’s $500 per organisation,” KCE community relations manager Helen Peacock says.

The community then had the opportunity to join in the donating via 12 Givealittle pages set up for each of the organisations before the deadline of December 12.

“At this time KCE lit our three Trees of Light in Te Kuiti, Otorohanga and Taumarunui in recognition of these organisations and their heartfelt efforts. Unfortunately we ran into some technical difficulties with the lighting programme, however this didn’t prevent the community from donating,” Helen said.

A total of $10,040 was raised by local community members during that time.

“That’s a real testament to the giving nature of those across this region,” Helen said.

As an incentive for the community to rally together for their preferred cause, KCE promised to match dollar-for-dollar the organisation with the highest community donations at the end of 12 December, up to the value of $6000.

“By December 12, Turangi River of Life Church had raised a whopping $9150 via Givealittle.

“They will therefore receive an extra $6000 donation from us for their Christmas community dinner and their fortnightly community dinners thereafter. That brings the total donated by KCE and generous community members during the campaign to $22,040,” Helen said.

“We are honoured to have partnered with members of the King Country community to make a difference where it’s needed most this Christmas season. These community groups do so much for our local communities, and together we have rallied to give them as much of a Christmas donation as possible.

The 12 community organisations were as follows:

1. Taumarunui Community Christian Food Bank Trust (Taumarunui)

2. Taumarunui Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (Taumarunui)

3. Turangi River of Life Church Community Dinner (Turangi)

4. Turangi Food Bank (Turangi)

5. Waimarino Christmas Food Appeal (Ohakune)

6. Angel’s Christmas Dinner (Ohakune)

7. Altrusa International Club of Te Kuiti (Waitomo)

8. Waitomo Waipa Women’s Refuge (Waitomo)

9. Otorohanga Community Food Bank (Otorohanga)

10. Otorohanga Community Food Garden (Otorohanga)

11. King Country-based Fire Services (Turangi, Ohakune, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti, Otorohanga)

12. King Country-based St John (Turangi, Ohakune, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti, Otorohanga)