Kiwis benefit from community grants

Kiwis benefit from community grants

5 August 2011

Communities in Auckland and Wellington are benefitting from grants from the Medibank Community Fund.

The community grants, totalling $50,000, have been awarded to:

• Moriah College ‘Garden to Table’ project, Wellington • Newmarket Primary School, Auckland • Shakti Asian Women’s Safehouse Inc., Auckland • WellingtonCityMenzShed Charitable Trust, Wellington.

The grants are from Medibank, a leading Australasian health company, which stands for better health. Throughout its network, Medibank provides more than 500,000 face-to-face consultations and answers more than 1.8 million health advice, coaching and chronic disease management calls. In New Zealand, Medibank Health Solutions operates Healthline and other telephone health services, including a Mental Health Line for a number of District Health Boards.

Medibank General Manager New Zealand, Davis Lemke, says the grants are aimed at helping people in the community to connect with and support one another, and live healthy lifestyles.

“As a health company, Medibank sees every day the stress families and individuals are placed under when someone becomes isolated or unwell. We hope the grants will help people to stay connected, be active and choose healthy food.”

The Moriah College ‘Garden to Table’ project in Wellington gives pupils the opportunity to foster a love of growing vegetables and eating unprocessed foods.

With the grant, the school will be able to buy planter boxes for vegetables and a communal dining table, as well as basic kitchen equipment, so the children can help prepare meals.

At Newmarket Primary School in Auckland, there is a three-fold programme, which is mainly student-led, and focuses on:

• developing students’ knowledge of and skills in physical activity

• teaching students about good nutrition

• helping the school engage with the wider community.

Shakti Asian Women’s Safehouseoperates four safehouse refuges across New Zealand. The funding will support one based in Auckland. The safehouse provides culturally appropriate refuge accommodation and domestic violence intervention services for migrant ethnic women. The money will be used to fund services and a World Food Day event in October, which will allow Shakti clients to showcase their different cultural foods.

In Wellington, the CityMenzShed Trusthelps older, more isolated men develop new skills and connect with others in the community. The funding will allow the Trust to employ a person to manage the building and its facilities, meaning the programme can be offered for most of the week.

Davis Lemke says applications for the 2011/2012 grants are now open, and urges community groups to apply. Applications can be downloaded from the Medibank Community Fund website: http://www.medibankcf.com.au.

The grants to four New Zealand organisations follow a $100,000 donation by the Medibank Community Fund to the Christchurch Earthquake Relief Fund.

ends

© Scoop Media