Cadbury announces NZ Commonwealth Games partner

Cadbury announces NZ Commonwealth Games partnership

• Official Fundraiser to the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team
• Cadbury Chocolate Grants see $200,000 worth of fundraising chocolate gifted to Kiwi athletes


19 May 2010 - Cadbury is proud to announce the details of its partnership with the New Zealand Olympic Committee, as the Official Fundraiser for the New Zealand 2010 Commonwealth Games team.

The partnership details were announced at an event in Auckland earlier this week, where Cadbury also revealed the recipients of the inaugural Cadbury Chocolate Grants.

Ten New Zealand athletes will each receive Cadbury fundraising chocolate with a recommended retail price of $20,000. Cadbury will work alongside each athlete to help them sell the chocolate, with 100% of the proceeds going to the athlete to raise money for their Commonwealth Games preparation.

Cadbury New Zealand Managing Director, Matthew Oldham, says, “Our partnership with the New Zealand Olympic Committee came about from a desire to support our athletes on their journey to the Commonwealth Games – and what better way to do that than by helping them to raise the funds to get there.

“Cadbury has a long history of fundraising in New Zealand – 40 years in fact. In that time, we’ve seen millions of dollars raised for thousands of schools, clubs and organisations around the country, so we’re immensely proud to be able to offer this support to our Commonwealth athletes.
“We launched the Cadbury Chocolate Grants because we believe sport makes a real difference – to individuals and to the community – and we wanted to help make a difference for some of our athletes on their road to the Games.
“$20,000 can mean the ability to travel to important international competitions, through to being able to afford more coaching time or that crucial piece of kit that could mean a medal in Delhi. We hope these Grants will go a long way to helping these 10 athletes on the path to the Games – and beyond.”
Cadbury and the New Zealand Commonwealth Games Federation invited all athletes on the Commonwealth Games long list to apply for the Grants, and asked them to submit details on what a Cadbury Chocolate Grant would mean to them.
The 10 recipients of the 2010 Cadbury Chocolate Grants were chosen because they not only embody the values and principles of the New Zealand Commonwealth Games Federation and Cadbury New Zealand, but because of the real difference the Grant will make to their Games preparation and their sporting career. The selection panel, made up of representatives of Cadbury and the NZOC, and their agencies, also looked for the thought and passion that had gone into the application.
Cadbury will support the 10 Cadbury Chocolate Grant athletes with fundraising tips and advice on how to garner support from their local community and, with the assistance of New Zealand Olympic Committee partners Harvey World Travel and United Travel, will undertake to sell 50% of the chocolate on behalf of all 10 athletes.

Cadbury is also offering all Commonwealth athletes and clubs access to its advice and support to assist with their fundraising efforts.

Matthew Oldham says, “With the Cadbury Chocolate Grants scheme we want to provide more than just monetary support – we also want to give athletes and their clubs the benefit of our fundraising expertise so that they can use this knowledge to help even more Kiwi athletes on their road to glory in the future.”

The 10 athletes/teams to receive a 2010 Cadbury Chocolate Grant are:

• Rebecca Wardell – Athletics, Heptathlon
• Joseph Parker – Boxing
• Stas Chalaev – Weightlifting
• The ‘Tri Star Lads’ – Matthew Palmer, Mark Holyoake, Patrick Peng, David Bishop, Daniel Good, Brandon Field– Artistic Gymnastics
• Kirstin & Caitlin Anderson – Synchronised Swimming
• Melissa Ingram – Swimming
• Elizabeth Lamb – Athletics, High Jump
• Donna Haliday – Badminton
• New Zealand Table Tennis Women’s Team – Karen Li, Sun Yang, Jenny Hung, Annie Yang, Michelle McCarthy, Sarah Her-lee (coach Li Chunli)
Shane Archbold – Cycling

ENDS

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