To celebrate greater Ōtautahi Christchurch’s proud tradition of female leadership the Kate Sheppard Women’s Fund was established by The Christchurch Foundation to celebrate and support females making positive change in our community.

Launched in 2019 the fund supports girls and women who are:

• Actively leading change in their community
• Leading change focused on positive outcomes for our city, its surrounds, and its residents
• Leading change driven by people coming together
• Offering grassroots support for our communities

The winners each receive a two-thousand-dollar grant to support the work that they are doing, and a short video is shot to assist them with promotion of their work. This year an additional grant was awarded from the usual three due to a gift from a local business – evotek Technologies

The 2021 winners are:

Emily Cormack, Re-Generate

Re-Generate is a programme run by Cultivate Christchurch that supports whanau/ families to grow their own kai.

Heather Milne, Christchurch Aunties

The Christchurch Aunties provide practical donations for women and children who have experienced family violence or vulnerability.

Joy Reid, One Mother to Another

One Mother to Another shows love and support to Mums & Carers in the Children's Acute Assessment Unit and Neonatal unit at Christchurch hospital by providing gift bags.

Lois Hill, Bike Bridge

Bike Bridge works with refugee and migrant women teaching them to ride bikes, as well as road rules and bike safety. They also assist to source bikes and cycling equipment for the participants.

The winners were announced at an event held in Christchurch this afternoon and were presented with their grant by the Fund’s Ambassador the Hon. Lianne Dalziel.

More about the Fund can be found here.

Below are links to short videos profiling the winners for 2021 and previous year’s winners can be found on our You Tube Channel.

Emily Cormack , Re-Generate Christchurch Foundation - Emily - Regenerate (vimeo.com)

Heather Milne, Christchurch Aunties Christchurch Foundation - Heather - Christchurch Aunties (vimeo.com)

Joy Reid, One Mother to Another https://vimeo.com/635672686/6e54986d71

Lois Hill, Bike Bridge Christchurch Foundation - Bike Bridge' (vimeo.com)

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