Kiwis urged to vote for Medibank grant winners

Kiwis urged to vote for Medibank Community Fund grant winners

24 November 2014

There are only two weeks left for New Zealanders to vote for the community wellbeing projects most deserving of winning 2015 Medibank Community Fund (MCF) grants.

Five New Zealand projects have been shortlisted to share in grants worth $600,000. For the first time, Kiwis can vote for the initiative they believe will be of most benefit to their community.

The five shortlisted New Zealand projects are:

• Wellington’s City MenzShed – City MenzShed cares for Wellington’s older and often isolated men, providing companionship and the opportunity to revive old skills and learn new ones. The men also encourage each other to eat healthily and be more physically active. One of their main activities is repairing and making toys and furniture for child care centres and community organisations.

• Skylight Trust – to deliver its ‘Getting Stronger’ board game to 34 low decile schools in the Auckland region. The game helps build resilience in young people aged 8 to 14, encouraging them to open up about sensitive topics such as parental breakup, bullying, death, addiction and domestic violence.

• Garden to Table Trust – to expand its food literacy programme for primary school children across New Zealand. The programme’s philosophy of sustainable practices, healthy eating, class participation and sharing, and hands-on learning can be delivered in a way that matches schools’ resources and needs, connecting the specialist garden and kitchen teachers as well as classroom teachers, families, volunteers and the community. The programme doesn't just teach garden and table skills for life, but enables children to make informed food choices in the future.

• Project Esther Charitable Trust – to enhance its ‘music and movement’ classes for pre-schoolers and their mums. The Trust supports Christchurch women and their families, especially those at risk. The classes, run by a trained music therapist, aim to foster a love of music and physical activity, encourage positive interactions between parents/caregivers and their children and help mums and their families to connect with their local community.

• Common Unity Project Aotearoa’s Koha Kitchen – to help construct a purpose-built ‘off grid’ community cooking school, using green technology, adjacent to the programme’s community garden and orchard at Lower Hutt’s Epuni Primary School. The facility, including a kitchen, classroom and storage spaces, will support the project’s community-led solution for educating and empowering local people to grow and prepare their own healthy food.

Medibank New Zealand General Manager Andrea Pettett says the MCF grants programme is an important investment in community health, supporting local initiatives that encourage healthy eating, physical activity or community connectedness.

“MCF invited not-for-profit organisations to apply for funding for initiatives they believe will make their community a healthier place to be.

“We received a record number of grant applications this year and it’s clear that organisations all over New Zealand are keen to improve both the mental and physical wellbeing of their communities.

“Medibank employees reviewed the applications and selected the projects that best met the criteria.”

Andrea Pettett says all the projects are making important contributions to the health and wellbeing of local communities and responding to the particular needs of specific groups.

She urges New Zealanders to get behind their chosen project by registering their vote at http://mcfcommunitygrants.com.au/ before Friday 5 December.

More than $100,000 in Medibank Community Fund grants were made to New Zealand projects in the 2014.

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