Working together to get children back to school is so important. Too many of our tamariki and mokopuna are not yet at school as more often than not, their families cannot afford back to school costs. 

Rising back to school costs are hurting our struggling and needy whānau. This is why this type of donation is so very much appreciated! Let us together help get our children back to school and give the education they both deserve and want!

The Catalytic Foundation started the EDU2022 campaign this year to help schools and families in desperate need of digital devices and school resources for their children to learn with. 

"Families are struggling to put food on the table, let alone provide stationery. Glen Taylor School are helping with providing meals for children so they can learn while at school" Johanna Wrack, Vice Principal, Glen Taylor School  

The following is a message we received from two boys whose family has been in transition due to domestic violence...

" Thank you so much we were struggling to get our school work completed on the school computer and have been held back without a devise. I just can't believe that we have one each and they are brand new. This is the best gift we have ever had. Things like this don't ever happen to us it's so incredible."

With the help of Rockwell Automation and generous individual donations, the Catalytic Foundation have distributed 80 backpacks filled with school items, including 25 stationery packs and 22 new Chromebooks for children to have at home and school. However, more Chromebooks are needed.

Thank you to our donors and businesses who have supported this campaign. If you can help please go to this link. 

 Donate to the EDU2022 campaign

Through the generous giving from our online and company donors we were able to drive through the Auckland Covid border at 5am on the 15th December, to deliver 296 Christmas boxes to two very hard-working family support charities in Kaitaia.

The first stop was at Whare Timatatanga Hou Ora (Kaitaia Womens Refuge), where we were greeted by the team, ready to receive the carefully wrapped parcels for their whanau in need. The team told us that many families leave their homes in a hurry during a domestic violence situations, so they were not only thankful for the lovely gifts for each member of the family, but also the essential personal items included in the boxes.

Our second stop was to deliver Christmas boxes to Te Rarawa social services in the centre of Kaitaia, and we received the following feedback: 

Te Rarawa social services would like to take this opportunity to thank the Christmas Shoebox Appeal for the time and effort in gaining resources that our organisation could distribute to whanau in need during the Christmas period 2021. The gifts were welcomed by whanau and their children with excitement and helped relieve some of the financial stresses whanau faced during this time.  Below, I have attached some feedback received from families and workers who had the pleasure of delivering these shoeboxes.

Many, many thanks to the shoe box appeal organizers who tirelessly continue to give. The cause has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Again, many thanks for helping make a positive difference for our whanau in our Community.

"Whanau were very thankful and appreciative in receiving the shoe box gifts".

"Very thankful as they were unable to financially provide for the children last year due to COVID.  The uncertainty of having enough provisions.  When the gifts were given the faces on the children lit up.  Many wanting to open them up and taking guess of what could be in them".

"My whanau were very grateful and appreciative receiving their shoe boxes, as some were in a really hard place going into the holidays".

"Receiving them gave a little bit of joy as seeing their babies open a present and the happiness it brought them started their holidays off on a good note".

"Spoke with caregiver today she was very appreciative of the boxes, she said it really helped for her moko to have presents" 

"All the whanau were amazed with the boxes they were gifted and how the gifts they received in the boxes were so on point for their children".

"I had a 14 year old boy who was very humbled by the gifts he got. He never expected anything and was so overwhelmed".

"Young girls were so excited being able to explore what was inside their gift boxes".

The Catalytic Foundation would like to thank the charities involved who provide such important family services in the Far North, our donors, and our volunteers including: Luana Smith who helped drive the Ute with our CEO Teresa Moore to Kaitaia and George Makene for the use of your vehicle.  Collectively we made a difference.

Photos: Unloading at Te Rarawa Social Services

When Cheyelle Robins-Reti contacted the Catalytic Foundation about supporting the Christmas Shoebox Appeal in Tauranga we were excited. Cheyelle was in France on tour at the time, so we put the wheels in motion to ensure we could make Christmas a happy time for rangatahi in Tauranga.

Through our contacts at the Acorn Foundation we were connected with Tanya Grimstone at Te Aranui Youth Trust. 

They were very thankful thankful for the Christmas boxes. Cheyelle also provided sports gear for the young people which was amazing.  They had a great party with their rangatahi and have also been able to spread the joy with the extra gifts being distributed by Police youth workers.

"We work with vulnerable youth in the Western Bay of Plenty between the ages of 7-14.  We also support and work with the Police Youth Development Team and the Police Family Harm Team so we were delighted to be able to support these organisations to get gifts to some of our youth". 

Thank you very much for considering us. Ngā mihi nui. Tanya Grimstone

 

Through the generous giving from our online donors and the staff at Spark, Xero, Dow, Hays Recruitment, Chubb Insurance, Rockwell Automation,  Richmond Chambers, Cambridge Clothing,  All things Plumbing, IMCD NZ Ltd, Kohler NZ, Russell Investments, Lion NZ Customer services team, Britomart Group, Cooper and Company, Lynch and Associates, Chorus, Dell Technologies, Reach Local NZ Ltd, Argosy Property Ltd, Kmart, TAS Health and the BNZ, we were able to support thirteen community services in the Waikato/Auckland region with the 2021 Christmas appeal.

The project would not have gone ahead without a drop off, pick up and volunteering centre, organised by Rockwell Automation in Mt Wellington. We would like to thank their team very much for their support, volunteers and the venue for the project. 

We delivered 1138 boxes of presents and essentials to families involved with English Language Partners (Waikato), Island Child Charitable Trust, North Shore Police, Woven Earth, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, HBC Grandparents Parenting Grandchildren, Love Soup, The Mums Clique, Budgeting and Family Support Services (Manukau, Otara, Tuakau), North Shore Women's Centre, De Paul House (Northcote and Rodney), Shine Women's Refuge and Rodney Hestia Women's Refuge.

"Thank you to the Catalytic team for making Christmas special for some of our most vulnerable families, who had been living with domestic violence. For many of our impacted families, Christmas was looking bleak with financial and emotional pressures adding further stress on top of their situation. We were overwhelmed by the love received from individuals and businesses who donated Christmas gifts to our clients and their children, as well as food - including special Christmas treats, which helped ensure they could have as much of joyful Christmas as possible". Carol Herbert, Relationship Specialist, Shine

“My daughter loves her new box….it really is the little things. I am more grateful than I can explain. Thank you”

Thanks to the generosity of our community, we were able to make Christmas special for children in our KIDshine programme. This meant our clients who were not in a position to purchase presents, were able to bring joy and hope to their children. Each gift included a card that read ‘This is a little gift from us to celebrate everything you have achieved this year’.

One mum said, “You’re right, it’s crazy how much we've done, we couldn’t have done it without you”.

Photos: Chubb Insurance volunteer filling boxes that were donated by Spark, Dow Chemicals team donated many generous gifts, delivering parcels to De Paul House in Northcote and below a delivery to North Shore Womens Centre

Through the generous giving from our online individual donors and the staff at Forsyth Barr, Mercy Hospital, Marsh Insurance, MTF Finance, Polson Higgs, Southern DHB, Kom Limited, Swain Woodham Group, Otago Polytechnic, Hays Recruitment, PKF Dunedin Ltd and Oamaru Playcentre, we were able to support five community charities in the Otago region with the 2021 Christmas appeal.

The project would not have gone ahead without a drop off, pick up and volunteering centre at the Dunedin Community House and we thank them for their help, volunteers and use of their venue for the project. 

We delivered 302 boxes of presents and essentials (double that of last year) to families involved with Corstorphine Community Hub, the Cancer Society (families in Dunedin and Invercargill), Stopping Violence Dunedin, Te Whare Pounamu Womens Refuge and Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group Inc.

"I had amazing feedback from a family that I gave boxes too. The young girl aged 11 thought that the box had been designed especially for her as it contained everything she is into and loves to do at the moment. The young boy who was 12 years old was super impressed as well which says a lot coming from a young boy!
Keep doing what you are doing as you did it so well and touched the lives of young people and their parents in a very special way at such a difficult time in their lives".
Ngā mihi, Jo Bremer, Supportive Care Invercargill, The Cancer Society of New Zealand 

"Thankyou again for the amazing work you do 😊"
Kind regards, Hana Hana Halalele, General Manager
Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group Inc

Thank you to everyone involved who volunteered and donated to make this possible.  

Photos: Volunteers at work at Forsyth Barr and Corstorphine Community Hub picking up boxes for their families

Through the generous giving from the teams at Cavell Leitch Lawyers, Pinnacle and Co, Grant Thornton, Hays Recruitment, Deloitte, Dell Technology, Spark, Chubb Insurance, Georgina Hemmings at Socially Speaking, Aman and daughter Myana and Belinda Foster, along with our individual online donors we were able to support four community charities in Christchurch, with the 2021 Christmas appeal.

The project would not have gone ahead without a drop off, pick up and volunteering centre. We would also like to thank the Christchurch Community House for their help, support and use of their venue for the project. 

We delivered 251 boxes of presents and essentials to single parent families through Birthright Canterbury, the womens refuge AVIVA, Grandparents raising Grandchildren and Bellyful (supporting families with newborns).

Thank you to everyone involved who volunteered and donated to make this possible. 

"The generous Shoe Box donations from various local companies and individuals meant that one parent families were less stressed thinking about Christmas. But more than the children getting presents on Christmas, the Shoe Box Project has ripple effects such as:

• Having some help with Christmas presents meant there was more food on the table for Christmas Day.
• For others, it was the chance to join in with a whānau barbeque and connect with relatives. When money is tight, one parent families do not attend because they are unable to bring some kai to share or simply no money for fuel/bus transport.
• Our families feel that they are not missing out compared to the two parent families.

We deeply appreciate the hard work and dedication of the staff, sponsors and donors of the Shoe Box Project".

Kind Regards, Rhodora Sagles, Manager - Birthright Canterbury Trust

 

"We love participating in this each year".

Greer Grenfell, Cavell Leitch Experience Coordinator, Christchurch

 

 

 

 

Through the generous giving from the teams at Spark, Deloitte, NZ Infrastructure Commission, Hays Recruitment, Xero, Dell and TAS Health, Chorus, along with our individual online donors we were able to support five community charities in the Wellington region with the 2021 Christmas appeal.

The project would not have gone ahead without a drop off, pick up and volunteering centre. We would also like to thank Wellington Helicopters and East by West Ferries for their help, support and use of their venues for the project. 

We delivered 245 boxes of presents and essentials to English Language partners (Porirua and Wellington branches), Bellyful, Heart Kids, Wellington Homeless Women's Trust and 

Kids Need Dadz. Thank you to everyone involved who volunteered and donated to make this possible.  

I would like to let you know that we have delivered  25 Catalytic Foundation  gift boxes to children. They were so happy and pleasantly surprised and their parents too. It was lots of happy faces and smiles.

My colleagues Sarka and Fleur who are our coordinators and I had a great fun as ‘Santines’. Thank you very much.

Zlata  Sosa | Manager
English Language Partners | Wellington Centre

On behalf of the recipients of the Christmas boxes, we would like to thank our donors and supporters in the Wellington region for supporting your community in need. 

Photos: 1 - Volunteers from Deloitte, 2 - Volunteers from Hays Recruitment, 3 - Wonderful family surprise, 4- Our parcels went out with wonderful home cooked meals from Bellyful 

Through the generous giving from the Massey Uni team, Chubb Insurance and The Factory, combined with individual online donors we were able to support two major charities in the Manawatu / Whanganui Region.

We delivered 72 boxes to the Palmerston North Womens Refuge who sent us the following thank you notes for everyone involved: 

Thank you so much for the support in regards to the shoebox donations we have received over the past few weeks. They were absolutely amazing.  This has made a number of our families Christmases so much better than it would have been 😊

The boys have come home absolutely chuffed. Thank you so much for the gifts the children received today.  They are 2 very lucky boys. Merry Christmas and happy new year.

Aw thanks you so much for the gifts. I have really appreciated everything you have done for me and my whanau ! Deeply !

Thank you so much for the donations I know this might sound silly but the Shampoo and Conditioner is amazing. As a family of 8 this is liquid gold.

We sent $400 worth of gift vouchers to the Wai Ora Christian Community Trust, who work with many at risk and homeless individuals and families. The CEO of the Trust Marama Dey sent us the following note:

Please thank you team very much for the vouchers that will come in handy for the families very much in need at this time of the year..

Karen and I have been busy wrapping Christmas presents going out tomorrow to about 30 families, and their children.
Two of our families have up to ten kids.
One whanau is homeless so we desperately seeking help for them and if the worst comes to the worst we will have to put them into our marae wharenui. They have six kids.

Any way you all have a merry Christmas and a better new year next year.

God Bless you all

Marama Dey
Wai Ora Christian Community Trust

We would like to thank our donors and supporters in the Manawatu/Whanganui region for supporting the Christmas Shoebox Appeal and your community in need. 

Our office is now open for the New Year and it was lovely to receive this email this morning from one of our long standing supporters..... 

"I am pleased to let you know that we are able to continue supporting Catalytic Foundation this year. It is pleasing to see the worthwhile projects that you have been able to support, especially in these difficult times". 

In 2022, we look forward to working with our donors and volunteers, on campaigns and helping community charities provide a hand up to those in need. 

From Teresa Moore (CEO), Heather (Accounts), Denise Pimentel (Digital Communications), Gaby Gandionco (Administration), Karen Titulaer (Partnerships) and our Board of Trustees: John Gallaher, Deborah Lucas, Georgia Robertson and David Knightly

Together we have delivered 2,332 Christmas boxes from Invercargill to Kaitaia and engaged hundreds of volunteers.

Every contribution made a difference to struggling families throughout Aotearoa. Thank you to everybody who gave their time, gifts and donations to this amazing campaign.

We would like to thank the frontline staff also in the many community charities we worked with during the 2021 Christmas Shoebox Project.

Northland (296 Christmas Boxes)

• Te Rarawa Family Services
• Whare Timatatanga Hou Ora (Kaitaia Womens Refuge)

Auckland (1115 Christmas Boxes)

• Island Child Charitable Trust NZ
• Budgeting and Family Support Services (Mangere, Otara, Tuakau)
• Woven Earth
• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
• Hibiscus Coast Grandparents Parenting Grandchildren
• Love Soup
• The Mums Clique
• North Shore Womens Centre
• Kindred Services (Helensville)
• Womens Refuge (Rodney)
• De Paul House
• Shine
• North Shore Police

Tauranga (20 Christmas Boxes plus sports gear)

• Te Aranui Youth Trust

Waikato (23 Christmas Boxes + Teddy Bears)

• Waikato Refugee Forum
• English Language Partners

Whanganui/Manawatu (80 Christmas Boxes)

• Wai Ora Christian Community Trust
• Palmerston North Womens Refuge

Wellington (245 Christmas Boxes)

• English Language Partners (Porirua and Wellington)
• Bellyful (Wellington to Porirua)
• Heart Kids Wellington
• Kidz Need Dadz
• Wellington Homeless Women's Trust

Christchurch (251 Christmas Boxes)

• Birthright Canterbury
• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
• Aviva
• Bellyful
• Christchurch Community House

Otago / Southland (302 Christmas Boxes)

• Volunteer South
• Dunedin Community House
• Corstorphine Community Hub
• Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Womens Refuge
• Stopping violence Dunedin
• Cancer Society (Dunedin and Invercargill)
• Pacific Island Community (Oamaru)

On behalf of the families who received boxes of presents thank you for your generosity and caring for others.

He aha te mea nui o te ao
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people
Maori proverb

A small act of kindness can make a families Christmas

To DONATE a box of gifts for a child this Christmas please CLICK HERE

Each Christmas box contains special gifts including: something to love, something for school, something to wear, something to play with and something to wash with. 

Thank you to Xabilities for producing this video for the Catalytic Foundation Christmas Shoebox Appeal

This year the Hays Recruitment team have volunteered to be Christmas Elves, to help deserving families receive boxes of gifts at Christmas time. The Christmas Shoebox Appeal has been an ideal opportunity for the Hays Team to get with their communities. Over the next few weeks the Hays team in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland are gift wrapping gifts and delivering Christmas boxes to ensure as many families are reached as possible. This is all made possible with donations from businesses and individuals throughout Aotearoa.

If you would like to contribute to the appeal  please click on this link Christmas Shoebox Appeal.

Thank you to the Hays Recruitment team for your time and generosity.  

Otago Polytechnic Charity House raised $115,000 for Otago community groups at the 15th edition of the Annual Charity House auction. 🙌

Each year, Otago Polytechnic carpentry learners build a four-bedroom house with guidance from their lecturers and generous support from many local businesses.

This project is an excellent example of the hands-on learning approach and shows how OP students make a better world.

The fully-furnished four-bedroom house was sold for $365,000 on 20th November, breaking the previous record sale of $325,000 in 2020.

Catalytic Foundation (formerly United Way NZ) will soon distribute these funds to frontline community charities in Otago.

29 days left to donate to the Christmas Shoebox Appeal

With the end of the year fast approaching and so many families in need of our support because of the pandemic, we’re asking you to please dig deep this year and support our Christmas Shoebox Appeal.

It is with the collective support of wonderful people like Maria and her grandchildren; Jack, Olive, Louie and Ava that we can help make a child's Christmas a happier time

Click here to Donate

Click here to order a box to fill 

This Christmas will be particularly hard for a lot of struggling families and children in New Zealand. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many children are living in households with barely enough necessities and dealing with financial hardship on top of interruptions to schooling and social routines.

Christmas Shoeboxes go to children in refuges who had left everything behind to escape domestic violence, they go to families struggling to put food on the table and to those spending their first Christmas in New Zealand, separated from their own culture and family. 

How you can help?

1. Donate here every $50 provides a special box of gifts and you can choose the region you want to support.

2. Register here so we can provide you with boxes to fill with gifts

3. Share our social media posts to people you know

It’s a small gesture of kindness, but the effect on the recipient families can be life-changing

In the recent findings from our Covid-19 Community Needs research, Kiwi charities across the board identified "mental health" as the most important issue affecting their communities during times of lockdown. 

“Since covid lockdowns the levels and complexities of issues young are having has increased our workload by 50% with an 80% increase in risk and spike in mental health issues around anxiety and depression, suicide ideation and self-harm, abuse and with the need for more care and protection interventions from our teams” - Nationwide Youth Charity

The survey conducted by the Catalytic Foundation received 560 responses from New Zealand charities across the three different COVID-19 lockdown periods in 2020 and 2021. The top three issues identified by charities in regards to the communities they serve were "mental health", "adequate housing" and "financial security" (which includes access to food and basic needs).

Practically all charities have been affected by the pandemic and many experienced an increased demand for services this year. For many charities, obtaining additional funding remains a priority and the amount needed has increased compared to last year, largely due to operational costs/expenses, and efforts to keep staff employed. 

“We are witnessing much higher levels of anxiety in our clients and staff” Social services charity in Otago

As community charities and not-for-profit organisations seek to address major social issues, most of them lack the resources, secure funding or even volunteers to help them work effectively and Covid-19 has only added to this strain. Charities have similar costs to commercial organisations yet they are trying to operate on the smell of an oily rag and they need our support!

“There has been a huge increase in demand for our services, especially for food parcels, emergency housing and mental health support” Community charity in Northland

In response to the findings from the Community Needs Surveys, the Catalytic Foundation has established donation pages for the following mental health charities: Youth in Transition (Auckland) and Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust (Otago).

Please click on their names for further details about how you can help

While Covid-19 has hit Aotearoa hard, the 'Love Soup' team have been collecting, sorting and distributing good food to assist communities, whanau and people in need around Auckland, the Waikato and Tokoroa regions.

DONATE HERE

Julie and her team are getting good supplies of food to redistribute, however, they still have to pay for the vans, petrol, storage rent, salaries, operations and volunteer costs.

How can you help? By donating to Love Soup via the link above.

Grant applications are open from 1 October to 22 October, 2021.

We are passionate about supporting the work of community charities, iwi and not-for-profit organisations who work hard to build healthy and resilient communities. We invite regional community groups, which meet the criteria, to apply to our annual grant in October this year. 

In the upcoming October funding round, we invite organisations from the following regions to apply: Manawatu/Horowhenua, Whanganui, Canterbury, South Canterbury, Otago and Southland. 

We are thankful to The Tindall Foundation who have chosen the Catalytic Foundation as their donation manager in the above areas and our workplace donors who collectively contribute to our Community Chest for these Grants. We concentrate funding on where it is most needed and will make the greatest difference. 

Priority Areas:

Whanau/Family, Early Years Support, Youth Development, Accommodation/Housing, Food security, Community Services, Refugee/Migrant and Cross-Cultural Communities, Skill Development / Training / Financial Literacy.

Who we fund:

We fund small to medium sized, community-based organisations who do not have large inhouse marketing or fundraising resources. Applications will be considered for project costs and operating expenses including: rent, utilities, salaries/wages. 

We Do Not Fund:

Schools, core early childhood education programmes, Government agencies, art organisations, sport organisations, animal charities, fixed assets or purchases over $3,000, capital projects, sports equipment, overseas travel, medical treatment or individuals, and health organisations (except in Otago).

Online applications only will be accepted after 1 October 2021 and the closing date for applications is 22 October 2021. Applicants will be advised before March 2022 if successful for funding.  Determining eligibility for funding is at the discretion of our regional volunteers and the Catalytic Foundation Board of Trustees.  From the 1st October, please click here to start your application. 

Immediate support needed for South Auckland 'Budgeting and Family Support Services Foodbank' 

CLICK TO DONATE

100% of your donations will directly support South Auckland families, individuals, pensioners and the homeless, with food parcels from the Budgeting and Family Support Services Food Bank, in Mangere, Otara & Tuakau

"As food insecurity grows by the day due COVID-19 Lockdown, we are seeing a huge number of people needing food. With many schools closed due to potential Covid contact, many of these families are forced to self-isolate at home for 14 days. These same people then cannot supermarket shop and most are turning to food banks, like ours to meet their needs. Demand is up around 80% on last year.

We are hearing some tragic stories such as the 74 yr. old pensioner living in his car with his small dog; who says he couldn’t sustain his private flat in Mangere Bridge. We have been able to provide him with food boxes, water and blankets etc. Then there is a couple of families referred to us due to domestic violence within the home. Whatever the need or their story, we do what we can to feed their need.

This lockdown has meant that we have been running out of produce quickly, from meat, milk, bread, eggs through to canned foods such as baked beans, spaghetti, tomatoes and then staples like rice, pasta and flour.

We are grateful for any and all support we can get from produce through to cash donations, which allow us to purchase the essential foods that we need to go into our food parcels".  Darryl Evans, CEO, Budgeting and Family Support Services

   DONATE NOW

100% of your donation will go Budgeting and Family Support Services Foodbank 

Thank you to the team and volunteers at Pregnancy Help Otago. Their annual impact report shows whānau were resourced through the provision of practical support: 607 reusable nappies, 666 items of pregnancy clothing, 1098 items of baby bedding, 8144 disposable nappies and 24,462 items of baby and children’s clothing. Young families are very grateful for this help in the Otago region!

Services provided to 1316 people in the last year included: breastfeeding support services, education about safe sleeping and resources relating to pregnancy and parenting. Safe sleeping was supported by the provision of 111 sleep spaces (82 bassinets, 24 pēpi-pods, and 5 wahakura).

"Every bit helps and with Covid19 it can be difficult to locate items you need or even go and get the items. It's very tough times and to have the support of Pregnancy Help is very much appreciated"