Plunket needs your support this Blue Day
Plunket needs your help to make sure Kiwi babies get the best start in life.
Superheroes come in different guises at different stages of our lives. As little kids, they’re likely to involve sparkly capes and a mask of some kind. By the time we grow up and have kids ourselves, there’s no greater superhero than the Plunket nurse who turns up on our doorstep offering reassurance, support and advice, helping us navigate through those foggy first weeks of parenthood. They seldom wear capes, but frequently save the day. Of course, the help doesn’t stop with those newborn visits. Plunket provides Kiwi families with care through the first 1000 days of a child’s life, a crucial time in their development that will influence their entire life. Everyone tells you those first few years will fly by – and they do. That’s because so much is going on, as their brains develop and children learn the physical, social and emotional skills they’ll need for the future. Raising happy and healthy tamariki is rewarding, but it’s also challenging at times. Babies don’t come with an instruction manual, and everyone can do with a helping hand. Plunket has been offering that for well over 100 years (some families can boast three generations of Plunket babies!) and has grown and adapted in the same way families have. The core of what it does is helping Kiwi families raise loving, confident and productive members of our society. That help means everything from answering an anxious parent’s late-night call to the free 24/7 PlunketLine, to in-person support with home visits and health checks. It also means offering parenting courses, and providing the chance for families to meet other families in their area through coffee groups and toy libraries. There is specialised support for Māori whānau, and families who haven’t been living in New Zealand for very long. But in the same way families need a supportive community to help them grow, Plunket needs help to keep doing all this. As a charity, it relies on the support of public to help provide the $6 million worth of free community services every year. That’s why it’s declared Friday 23 March Blue Day for Plunket – part of the 1000 Days to Raise a Bundle fundraising campaign. There’s plenty you can do to support this campaign and it starts by going blue. Hold a Blue Day in your home, workplace, school or day care and ask everyone to dress in blue, and donate to Plunket. You can dress as simply (jeans and a blue t-shirt) or as dramatically (full-on superhero with sequinned blue cape) as you like. Go the extra mile with a bluethemed bake sale. Think blueberry muffins, cupcakes with blue icing and gingerbread men with blue M&Ms for eyes and buttons. It’s about getting behind a Kiwi institution that makes a difference in the lives of families, and helps make New Zealand a better place to live.