The Catalytic Foundation is proud to be working with youth charities such as the Crescendo Trust of Aotearoa. This Auckland music trust is a visionary, unique and professional social enterprise that grows young people between the ages of 12-24 across various satellite hubs across Auckland. They provide services such as sound production, band and music groups and other creative areas. 

As a social enterprise, Crescendo works to provide opportunities for young people in Aotearoa through a range of commercial services. They generate income through gigs, event management, video and sound production, and integrate this into their programmes. Not only does this provide Crescendo with revenue, but also real-life work experience and income opportunities for their rangatahi.
 

-EMPOWERING RANGATAHI TO ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS-

The Catalytic Foundation supports Mental Health: 

Life Matters in Otago have established a community that supports young people around New Zealand suffering with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. 

Navigating the mental health system can be complicated. Research done by Life Matters have found that there are 5 key issues for individuals trying to reach out for help in New Zealand

• Difficulty Accessing Services 
• Lack of Compassion
• Lack of Follow-up 
• Inadequate support for families and loved ones 
• Stigma

Each of these key issues have been identified by Life Matters as reasons for individuals not truly getting the help they need. 

We asked Rebecca from Just Zilch about how her organisation has grown from its outset to become the biggest free food store in New Zealand!

How did Just Zilch Start?

Just Zilch started because I was volunteering at another organisation that had leftover food. I got permission to give that food away around town. I found I was always really busy and people were responding to it. I then found out about the concept of a food store and though that was a great idea seeing as that was what I was basically doing! I took that idea and over the next 9 months developed it and found a team that were wanting to work with me. In June 2011 we opened?

How has Just Zilch changed?

The growth has been unbelievable. In the first year we were serving around 80 people a day. Now, we have over 300 people come through the shop a day. The sheer numbers have drastically increased. This has meant we rely on a whole lot more on volunteers.

What challenges have to Covid-19 lockdown presented?

Because we were not clarified as an essential service, we worked with other social services such as the Salvation army and Methodist food banks and gave them the food we collected, and they put it into packs that were then delivered to households. This provided some relief to families that were low on food.

What are your plans for the future of the food bank?

It has been really amazing because, over the lockdown period, we got more food than we ever had before. Particularly in terms of non-perishable food. This is very exciting because we have been able upscale the other part of what we do which is keep food in our warehouse which we acquired last year. This meas. We have been able to give food to other community organisations. Whanganui, Levin, Rotorua, Hawkes bay and even the South Island! We have had the help of very generous transport companies such as PBT helping us with this.

What are the guidelines around donating food?

There are no rules really. We are set up to take perishable foods. If people have food from their garden like fruits and vegetables, we are able to take them. If people are cleaning out their cupboards and are able to donate it, we will take those kinds of things too. Even if businesses want to donate bigger lots of food we are able to take that too!

What is your volunteer process?

It is really, really easy! We now have a volunteer coordinator as we have to many volunteers!
We ask people to email or come in and see the volunteer coordinator.

What are the volunteer’s responsibilities?

It depends what they’re doing. We have around 110 volunteers every week. We have a shop so in the morning some duties include cleaning, collecting food. When the shop opens, we need shopkeepers/servers.

Corstorphine Community Hub is a place set up by the community for the community. Operating in Dunedin the hub opened in 2013 with a community garden, but today they have grown to become a centre where whanau can access a broad range of free health and social services, attend workshops and classes, collect free food or just come along to meet people and enjoy the company of others.

The hub provides a food share on Fridays to around 130-140 whanau in need each week. The food is delivered to Corstorphine team, unpacked, repacked and put into family boxes for those who need it to pick up. With the help of Kiwi harvest being their main providers, Corstorphine was considered an essential service throughput the lockdown period, and they were able to provide a sense of relief to the families they support.

THEIR MISSION IS TO STRENGTHEN FAMILIES, PROMOTE WELLNESS AND IMPROVE ACCESS TO SERVICES WHILE LINKING THE COMMUNITY WITH EACH OTHER AND ENCOURAGING SELF-SUSTAINABILITY AND HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES.

We spoke to Dale at Corstorphine Community hub:

“As recipients, we had the pleasure of meeting one of the providers of Kai to Kiwiharvest and discuss with them the issues whanau face when shopping for our most basic necessity, food. Countdown staff recognised the increase in declined eftpos transactions and wanted to talk to a community group to find out how we work with whanau to support them and what were the most unaffordable items for whanau, that was simple, fresh fruit, vegetables, meats and cleaning products.. This is a first for us all, recipients meeting providers through the awesome mahi of the KiwiHarvest team.... Kia manuia koutou and thank you for your constant support."

“At the end of the day its all worth the smiles, tears and relief to whanau.” - Dale Pene-Smith, Corstorphine Hub Coordinator.

DONATE HERE TO SUPPORT  

3M joined forces with us to help community charities and support services across New Zealand experiencing increased demand for their services due to Covid-19. On behalf of 3M, we distributed NZ$89,975 (US$59,000) in emergency funding to 16 community charities across New Zealand which are on the frontlines of supporting New Zealanders with the effects of the global pandemic.A total of 98% of community frontline charities have been directly affected by Covid-19 according to research conducted in April  by Catalytic Foundations (Formerly United Way NZ), managing a surge in demand alongside reduced sources of income. Chief Executive, Teresa Moore said small to medium community charities are acutely affected as they are the first port-of-call for those in need and do not have in-house marketing or fundraising resources.

“While there’s no doubt that Covid-19 is impacting everyone; young people, the elderly and those living with mental health challenges, economic hardship and family violence are disproportionately affected, says Moore. 

“Thanks to 3M we were able to get funding straight to those charities on the frontlines, so they could help those most affected by Covid-19,” said Moore.

Community charities are also being approached by increasing numbers of people who have not needed support before. Food banks across the country have reported daily demand increasing more than 20 times. A charity supporting the elderly received over 1200 calls in three days as shopping for groceries online became necessary, and mental health charities, particularly those supporting youth require funding to bring in additional counsellors to support a growing number of young New Zealanders in crisis.

Charities are expecting demand to continue to grow for another three to six months, and not drop for quite some time. Many are bracing for the wage subsidy scheme which is coming to an end next month.

“Since the outbreak began, 3M has addressed the COVID-19 pandemic from all angles and across all stakeholders, and this includes supporting our community partners around the world,” said Chris LeBlanc, Managing Director, 3M Australia and New Zealand. “It’s important that 3M holds true to its core values during this pandemic by supporting our communities and improving lives. Throughout this global crisis, we will continue to look for ways to help in the fight against COVID-19.”

The Catalytic Foundation (formerly United Way NZ) works alongside donor organisations such as 3M to maximise the impact of their CSR by designing and executing bespoke workplace giving and volunteering programmes which align with that organisation’s people, values and the communities they work within.

"It's rewarding to know our funding is going to where it is needed most," said LeBlanc.

Charity Feature:

The Dunedin Curtain Bank up-cycles unwanted and unused curtains, lines them, and distributes them to those in need in Otago

Curtains make a significant difference to the warmth of a home. A third of all heat loss in an uninsulated home occurs through windows. Even double-glazed windows let out more heat than uninsulated walls.

• A study found that within households containing a 9 month old baby, 18% put up with feeling cold to save on heating, 11% used no household heating, and 22% of the babies had heavy condensation in their bedrooms.
• 19.7 thousand children below the age of 5 were hospitalised due to disease of the respiratory system; and 27 thousand adults aged 65 and above were hospitalised due to disease of the respiratory system.
• Over 7 years Dunedin Curtain Bank has given out 3,000 pairs of curtains.
  Last year they gave over 450 pairs of curtains throughout Dunedin and its greater area.

Dunedin Curtain Bank gets donated used curtains which they check for suitability in health, warmth and length. If they make the grade they distribute them to those most in need in the Dunedin community. They then line the curtains of all children's bedrooms, the main heat source room of the house and we line all the curtains in houses of client's suffering severe medical conditions.

Charity Feature

Aviva is available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. 

Last year, the staff of Aviva and their volunteers supported 1224 children, young people and adults from across Canterbury. They responded to 4066 phone calls to the emergency line they supply.

The staff at Aviva provide continual support to children and families. Over the past few weeks, Aviva staff member Sofia has been tirelessly working to make sure families are safe in lockdown.  “I organize and plan groups at Aviva. Being a coordinator and sometimes facilitator of the groups, I am able to see the transformation the participants have from when they first attended the group sessions to when they finally complete the programme. And Aviva is a part of that journey walking alongside with them.” Sofia, originally coming to New Zealand to study psychology found she loved watching individuals grow as they come to Aviva. 

“I want people to know that what we do is important and very needed, be it in lockdown or not in lockdown,” she says. “The families that we work with, they are the families that need our support. They want to overcome violence, they want to work on their relationships, they want to lead a safe life. It’s just that they need that support, and we are here with that support. We will be supporting them every day and, in every way, possible.”  

Aviva supports people of any age, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation who:

• use (or are at risk of using) violence 
• are experiencing, or have experienced family violence 
• have experienced recent or historic sexual assault/rape 
• are concerned about someone else who may be at risk of violence or using violence 

Charity Feature:

The Garden to Table programme is teaching children the essential skills they need to be food-resilient. Garden to Table aims to create an enthusiastic culture that encourages children to get their hands dirty in learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food.

Garden to Table also has wider community benefits when the children bring home what they have learned about growing, harvesting, preparing and cooking good food. Children develop increased self-esteem, pride in their achievements and pride in the environment, and behaviour improves in some children.

Community Charity Feature:

Many people in Dunedin struggle to pay for healthcare and in turn receive no healthcare support at all.

Founded by two doctors and a midwife that recognised this problem, Servant Health centre was established to help those in the Dunedin community that needed access to health services. 

All services are FREE. Servant Health Centre wants to create equal opportunity to ANYONE wanting healthcare services.

Charity Feature:

It is no secret that families all around New Zealand have experienced financial and mental distress during the Covid-19 Lockdown.

Families with young children with illnesses have struggled to support them as they have not been at work, placing stress and hardship in their everyday lives.

Bellyful was ‘born’ out the desire to see families supported by their fellow community members. The Bellyful team cook and delivers meals to families with new-born babies who are struggling with illness where there is no family or social support.

Since the onset of the level 4 lockdown in New Zealand, Bellyful has experienced a 30% drop in revenue. This is due to the fact they have had to cancel many of their fundraising events. As a response to this, Bellyful have kickstarted a “Bake for Bellyful” initiative that aims to get kiwi communities all around New Zealand baking!