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Institute of Directors

It takes a lot to run a business, and not-for-profit (NFP) organisations are no different. But much of what keeps things running isn't just the day-to-day operations, but the governance happening behind the scenes. Governance in NFPs is increasingly important. Facing more competition and stakeholder scrutiny, their long-term sustainability depends on good governance. Good governance helps NFP organisations improve performance, have a defined vision of their future, ensures there is accountabili...

Junior Tough Guy and Gal Challenge

It’s muddy, it’s challenging, and it’s a whole lot of fun. The Tauranga Junior Tough Guy and Gal Challenge was held yesterday at Baypark, with over 750 primary and intermediate school students taking part. The event sees children take on an extreme cross-country where they are mentally and physically challenged with a muddy obstacle course consisting of swamp crossings, a spider’s web net climb, crawl under obstacles, beautiful native bush trails, tunnels, hurdles, a climbing frame, and ...

Environmental Education for Resource Sustainability Trust

It’s been an exciting week for students at Pyes Pa School. A delivery of 27 plants has arrived as a reward for their recycling efforts – all part of the Paper4Trees programme they have been involved in since 2002. Students Finn Paton, Tyler Carroll and Harry Davies are tasked with planting the small flax (harakeke) in their playground. Full of energy and much enthusiasm, they put on their gumboots, grab their shovels and pull a small trolley filled with the plants over to their new home. Py...

YWAM Ships Aotearoa

It's the first time in a long time that Kevin Mikaere has had his teeth examined. As a small self-employed commercial fisherman, his business has had to come first over his health and wellbeing. But after 18 months of tooth pain, Kevin has come to the YWAM Trinity Koha Dental Clinic, located at Whaioranga Trust in Welcome Bay, for an assessment. "My business is only small, so every bit of money I had I found the business needed it, and being the way dentistry is, quite expensive, I tho...

Katikati Taiao

Leaving school can be a daunting experience for any young person. But for some, lack of confidence and skills, poor public transport, and a feeling of disconnect from the community leaves them feeling lost and unsure of where to turn to. In Katikati, there are an estimated 250 young people aged 16-24 years not in education, training or employment. A new role in the Katikati community is working to get that number down to zero, supporting young people’s wellbeing and guiding them on a pathway t...

Parafed Bay of Plenty

For many, there is opportunity around every corner to join any sport, climb any mountain, or take a dip in the sea on any whim. But for those living with a physical disability, the possibilities may not seem so endless. Lack of accessible facilities, limited accessible transportation, and barriers around vision and mobility leave physically disabled people with fewer options to keep active and have fun. Regional sports organisation Parafed Bay of Plenty is working to create more possibilities fo...

$2.3 million in TECT funding approved for community groups

It's been a big month for TECT funding, with the local trust approving around $2.3 million in grants towards a wide range of facilities and initiatives in our region. From a pontoon and playground equipment to a new surf rescue base and multipurpose sports facility, TECT Chairperson Bill Holland says the funding impacts every corner of the community. "It has been one of our largest funding rounds with numerous grants for community facilities and projects of regional significance being approved. ...

Road Safety Education

We see it in the news almost daily. Accidents, injuries and deaths on our roads are a significant issue, one exacerbated by an ever-increasing number of vehicles and the many regional state highways and rural roads in our region. But for young people, there is an even greater risk. Getting behind the wheel of a car as a young driver or being a young passenger with a novice driver is said to be the most dangerous thing that a person will do in their life. There are many reasons for this. For you...

University of Waikato Tauranga campus thriving despite challenging year

The University of Waikato’s Tauranga campus was officially opened in early 2019. Two years on, and through an exceptionally difficult year with Covid-19, it continues to experience growth across all areas of its development, including campus, students and staff. The Tauranga Tertiary Campus Charitable Trust met this month to receive its annual report from the University of Waikato. The Tauranga Tertiary Campus Charitable Trust is made up of the three key funders of the Tauranga campus developm...

SociaLink - Community Insights Lab

Data. It can make eyes glaze over, mouths yawn, and minds go into a spin.  But a new initiative is helping the social sector realise just how powerful a tool it can be in opening up a world of insight and opportunities. The Community Insights Lab (CIL) has been developed by SociaLink over the past year, aiming to help community groups build the confidence and skills they need to make the most of the data available to them. SociaLink is the umbrella organisation supporting the social and com...

Online support service makes asking for help easier

An online social and wellbeing support service launched in Hamilton during Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown will soon be coming to the Western Bay of Plenty. 'Here to help u' enables people to access a wide range of free support by submitting one help request online. Assistance is available across various areas, including food parcels, prepared meals, collection of items service, general local support, mental health support, and safe social connection. The service works with a simple three-step pr...

Recovery Fund reaches funding milestone

The WBOP COVID-19 Recovery Fund has funded 16 community groups in the past eight months with over $360,000 in funding. It brings the total funded since its inception to over $770,000. The successful recipients include Brave Hearts, Life Education Trust Western Bay of Plenty, Youth Encounter Ministries, Tipu Skills for Life, Tauranga Riding for the Disabled, Bay of Plenty Multiple Sclerosis Society, RRR Rescue Revive Rehome, Ngamuwahine Lodge Trust, SociaLink, Wise Group, Merivale Community Centr...

Tauranga Special School

Many families, staff, and students gathered at Tauranga Special School last week to attend a Mihi Whakatau and blessing of different areas of the school. One of these areas was the new outdoor sensory spaces, which wowed all in attendance with their colourful, interactive elements. The spaces are designed to provide students focused learning opportunities and sensory integration, with plenty to touch, see, hear, and smell; from hanging musical pipes and an enclosed light sensory room, to a water...

Unsafe home transformed thanks to community good

It's a house on the street like any other. One that has had the ultimate makeover inside and out. But it's not the kind of home reno you'll see on TV, but one that has had a lot more love, and community spirit, put into it. Hundreds of volunteer hours and donated resources have transformed the rundown home from completely unliveable, to warm, safe and dry. A kuia and her son lived inside. But like many, her home had gotten away from her. With no hot water, cooking facilities, heating or insula...

Community initiative aims to reduce the digital divide

Shopping online, learning online, working online. It’s the new norm, one we became well-accustomed to during the lockdown last year. But what do those without digital devices do? How do they communicate and access information in a world that is out of reach due to cost? There is a digital divide in the Western Bay of Plenty, one which SociaLink is hoping to reduce with a new initiative that will see Chrome Books distributed and internet connections installed for families and whānau most at ne...

Tauranga Community Housing Trust

As demand for rental properties in our region soars, our community’s most vulnerable are getting left behind. Low-income earners, older people, and those living with a disability or mental illness are struggling to find suitable housing, whether due to sheer unaffordability or lack of accessible properties available. Local charity Tauranga Community Housing Trust (TCHT) is working to change that by improving access to quality, sustainable housing.   As a registered community housing provi...

Parent to Parent Coastal BOP

Shelley Robinson has experienced many ups and downs over her daughter Ruby’s life. 18-year-old Ruby has Global Developmental Delay and Autism, and Shelley had been worried about her future for some time. Leaving school was one of those worries. She was concerned about how her daughter would transition into the real world – a world filled with many physical, social and attitudinal obstacles. Research shows that when people with disabilities finish school, it can be incredibly challenging to ...

Western Bay Museum

It’s a far cry from the museums of old. Modern, bright, and housed inside the instantly recognisable historic landmark that is the old Fire Station in Katikati; the Western Bay Museum is an establishment renowned in our community. The museum’s beautifully curated exhibitions, hands-on experiences, outdoor engagement areas and many passionate volunteers bring to life the stories on which the foundations of the Western Bay of Plenty are built. Exhibitions are updated three times a year, keepi...

Age Concern

When you ask 83-year-old Roland Edwards why he started volunteering 20 years ago, he answers candidly. "I suppose it was quite a selfish attitude really, but I had retired and the thought of getting out and about driving people around on a minibus sounded like it would be lots of fun." That bus was for Age Concern Tauranga, a charity that supports the wellbeing of older people in our community through educational workshops, programmes and social activities. But soon enough, Roland learned there ...

Wild Whiskers

They might be the most popular companion animal in New Zealand, but cats are not so popular in the wild. Stray and feral cats are a widespread problem across the country, with numbers estimated to be in the millions. At this scale, they not only face lives of hunger and poor health, but also wreak havoc on our native birdlife, skink, and gecko population. And it's a problem that can be hard to contain, with a single unspayed female cat and her offspring able to produce more than 400,000 cats in...

TECT to proceed with changes to Trust structure, following consultation

TECT has today announced its decision to proceed with changes to the structure of the Trust, following a month-long consultation period with its beneficiaries. The changes and consultation followed Trustpower’s announcement in January that it was undertaking a strategic review of its retail business, including a possible sale. A sale of Trustpower’s retail business to a third party would mean that TECT beneficiaries would no longer be Trustpower’s 53,000 Tauranga and Western Bay local ret...

National Jazz Festival

It’s a sound unlike any other. It takes you back to a different era, makes you get up and dance, and is the perfect accompaniment to some great food and drink. It’s jazz, and it filled our city’s streets over Easter weekend at the National Jazz Festival. Home-grown in Tauranga, the festival has been a highlight in our region’s calendar of events since 1962. The jam-packed weekend brings with it much anticipation and excitement every year, with over 25,000 people flocking to the city to e...

Te Tai Whanake ki Tauranga Moana

A new project currently in development is establishing a Te Ao Māori Localised Curriculum for all 67 Tauranga Moana schools, early childhood centres and the wider community in partnership with Tauranga Moana Iwi. The project, called Te Tai Whanake ki Tauranga Moana, will be a first for New Zealand, bringing all Tauranga Moana Iwi and schools together in a unique and enduring way. The Te Ao Māori Local Curriculum will encompass foundational Te Reo, our Tikanga, stories and history, and will be...

Bay of Plenty Rugby Union

Rippa Rugby is wrapping up this week after a successful summer of the programme, which saw over 3,300 students aged 5-17 in the Western Bay of Plenty take part. The programme sees girls and boys of all abilities playing the non-contact version of our national game in a fun and relaxed environment. Involving a 6-week after school round-robin, teams play matches against their surrounding schools. Games consist of 12 minutes halves, and substitutions can be rolled throughout. The final week of each...

Youth Mentor helps young men stay on track

Jared Dixon understands just how valuable wrap-around support is when trying to make meaningful change in one’s life.  He has been through it himself, with a life that was once filled with drugs, crime and gangs. His escape out was only made possible thanks to Live for More’s Tai Wātea surf therapy programme and the people who supported him to help turn his life around. The programme consists of weekly surfing sessions, clinical psychology treatment, group work, goal setting, and ...