More support at grassroots
The Northland Community Foundation’s grants panel, made up of volunteers from around the region, had the difficult job of selecting 13 organisations to share the $91,000 available this year, from 34 applications seeking $410,032.
The Northland Grassroots Fund is supported by the Tindall Foundation, boosted by donations to the Northland Community Foundation’s Northland Community Fund,’ which grants between $1000 and $15,000 to local initiatives that aim to improve the lives of Northlanders in the long-term, under the ‘families’ category.
Northlanders are encouraged to support their local communities by contributing to the fund (for a 33 per cent tax credit).
This year’s recipients included:
The Nga¯tiwai Trust Board, a mandated iwi authority, its rohe extending from the east coast of the Bay of Islands to south Mahurangi, including offshore islands. The iwi, which has 7500 registered members, has a long track record in resource management and environmental work, health and education, providing a range of education programmes as well as pastoral care.
It is currently developing a social development arm in the areas of housing, employment, youth suicide prevention, drug and alcohol prevention. This year’s application was for its Kokiritia Te Aroha (youth development as suicide prevention) project.
The Whangaroa Kiwi Can Charitable Trust delivers life skills and values-based programmes for five to 12-year-olds to more than 850 children at nine low-decile schools in the Far North (Kaingaroa, Taipa Area School, Peria, Mangonui, Oruaiti, Totara North, Te Kura o Hato Hohepa and Kaeo).
Family Support Mid North provides free counselling services within the area from To¯tara North to Towai, including Kaeo, Kawakawa, Moerewa, Kaikohe, Kerikeri, Paihia, Russell, Rawene and Opononi, specialising in family violence and sexual harm counselling.
ParentPoint North Inc fosters the social and economic values of good parenting, supporting families with pre-school children in times of stress or crisis with practical in-home help, including child-minding, giving caregivers a break or time to attend appointments that are not appropriate for young children.
It tailors its services to suit the client, depending on their needs. Many clients do not have family support, and find the pressures of raising a young a family very difficult; hence a helping hand in the home can make a world of difference.
Many clients live in rural areas, and isolation is a huge problem for them, while many suffer from post-natal depression, reassurance that they are doing a great job and helping deal with some of their daily chores giving them peace of mind. The service includes 12 hours’ free in-home support.
The Rongopai House Charitable Trust supports wha¯nau in the Far North in confronting domestic violence, child and sexual abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, partnering with wha¯nau affected by poverty to empower them to build a better life.
That is achieved by providing practical, compassionate and restorative actions for parents and children to effect change for those caught in intergenerational and cyclical traps of poverty and abuse.