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Christchurch 4-Day Programme

Participants in our 4-day Self-Awareness course in Christchurch. We had ten people attend. All very enthusiastic and enjoyed the experience of learning new skills

September 2008

Rotorua Young Mothers School.

What a great place to be able to go to for support when you are a young mother! And very well organized too. Some of the mothers already had children and were expecting another, and some were pregnant for the first time. The school has been set up in a disused intermediate school. They have a day care centre, preschool and a kindergarten on the premises, so while the parents are in school the children are looked after. This was a very supportive and empowering environment for the mothers and also a great facility for the community.

Full story and photos

July 2008

Hanmer Springs Forest Camp Trust

Barry Cardno Flight over Hanmer.

Follow Your Dreams

Freedom in the Air (NZ) is the name of my Flying for the Disabled charity I wish to get off the ground in New Zealand. 

Registering with the Charities Commission, Freedom in the Air (NZ) will be a not-for-profit operation that I hope will be funded from grants and donations.

The purpose of Freedom in the Air (NZ) will be to share the freedom, joy and accomplishment of flying with physically or intellectually disabled children and young people; and inspire them by example to aim high and not give up on their own dreams.

Full story and photos

April 2008

St Francis Anglican Care Young Mothers 4-Day Self-Awareness Course, Rotorua

It was a pleasure to run this course for such a dedicated group of people. This was the first course that St Francis has run in their new premises. We had a bigger turnout than expected so the room was a bit small for this course, however everyone was comfortable and ready for a full-on 4 days.

The format for the course was Monday & Tuesday, a rest on Wednesday, with Thursday & Friday to finish.
This course is a challenge to most people as it tends to question some of their beliefs about themselves and how they see the rest of the world. With most of the participants being mothers this was an enlightening course. It allowed these mothers to get a different perspective on what they want, when they want it, where they want it and why. One of the most talked about issues from the course was business, personal, and social time that we spend every day. The course participants didn’t realise that personal time was important to have, as spending time away from the children and doing activities that they were passionate about would give them the rest that they need to meet the challenges of everyday life.

April 2008

Balclutha 4-Day Self-Awareness Course

In March we went down to Balclutha and ran a four day Self-Awareness course. It was a great success; in fact, so much so that we are returning in May to run another community course and run a self-awareness/anti-bullying course in two of the schools. This is very exciting for the Trust. Thank you to all who have supported us over the years to make this available for our New Zealand Communities. Thanks also to Irene who helped us organise the participants for this course.

February 2008

Kiwi Family Trust in Antarctica

Last year the wonderful people in Antarctica had their Christmas breakup celebrations.
The Women’s Soiree is an annual event where women entertain the community on ‘ice’.  This year the event was scheduled for December 15th.  The evening begins with a pre-event social where community members can purchase door prize tickets and donate to the selected charity organization.  Prizes were a wide variety of gifts given by community members and Christchurch businesses.  Then the show begins:  an evening of women performing a variety of acts including belly-dancing, readings, and dance routines.  Our dining room, where the show is held, is packed with standing room only.

We where very fortunate to have them choose us as their charity to support last year. There were approximately 400 people involved and through their efforts they raised $4960 NZ. This will be put to good use running our various programmes and also to help with our Kool Kidz school camps. Thanks to Nancy Farrell, Peggy Malloy and all who put in so much hard work to make this event the success that it was. We are truly grateful to you all. We are astounded that so many people so far away can be so generous to help people that they don’t even know. Awesome!!

We would like to thank all the Christchurch business that have supported the Antarctic fundraising event which in turn has enabled them to auction off goods and services in their quest for funds to support the Kiwi Family Trust.

We would like to acknowledge the following businesses that contributed to the Women’s Soiree:Scott Base, New Zealand Antarctic Program

Dux DeLux
Whisky Galore
The Twisted Hop
Sala Sala
Total Body Concept
New Zealand Tramway
Willowbank Reserve
Braided Blast, Chch
Thank you all and we will keep you informed during the year of our progress.

October 2007

Takaka Camp

This camp was fantastic. We stayed at Collingwood Campgrounds in a house that slept 12. We had 8 boys (ages 9-12) and 3 adults. It was full-on! Despite the rain for the entire time we were there, we did all that was on the itinerary.

Story and photos here

September 2007

Kidz Wired for Success

Wiri Central School proved a wonderfully exciting 2 weeks together as we journeyed through the main five themes and support material for Kool Kidz with all pupils from Year 4 up, though the younger students all had a WITS session too. The pupils and staff are so motivated to overcome anti-social behavioural incidences with some awesome school-wide management strategies which Kool Kidz was able to enhance with a fresh slant. Kids were encouraged to engage their Wiri Wits: walk away, ignore, tell someone and make ‘I’ statements when resolving conflict. Key potential problem emotions like anger, bullying, depression, grief and loss, stress and loneliness were analysed, identifying causes, symptoms and management plans including people we can trust to help us.

Pupils were challenged to embrace changes with diet and exercise, especially reducing fats, salt and sugars while increasing water consumption as a primary support to help improve educational learning. We explored our leisure time TV, DVD and computer viewing preferences reflecting that not all choices were in our best interests, agreeing that Push Play 30 minutes a day would set us up for a life’s healthy exercise. Change areas were identified: negatives were shredded, while positive replacement goals were created. Kids researched NZ Heroes as role models for mottoes to encourage their success especially during the inevitable storms of life.

Parents and Staff sessions looked at creative solutions to the underlying issues of anti-social behaviour especially bullying. Our time together was all too quickly over, but we had enjoyed a hugely reflective and empowering time, reflecting on our needs and planning for better methods to meet them so school and life would again be cool for all!

May 2007

Boys find inspiration from 4-day Self-awareness programme. View their artwork here.

April 2007

Parkview: Wonderful start to 2007, trialing more new material on ‘what we feed our bodies and minds’! Kids very responsive as always to the ideas especially the health experiments and the NZ Hero poster work so they all have a personal motto to challenge them to new heights like their hero! Last year’s conflict resolution skill work has been well retained and kids feel very empowered to deal with their conflicts appropriately. Eating habits are improving they say! Keep it up Parkview.

March 2007

Latest Newsletter Online Now

Issue 9 March 2007

More information here

February 2007

Belfast Rotarians ‘led the way’ by sponsoring the KOOL KIDZ Programme to Belfast Schools’ Year 7 & 8 pupils February 19-23. Ninety children from three classes enjoyed a full weeks’ learning together; being challenged to adapt more effective conflict resolution strategies, reflecting on what they are feeding their minds through TV, movies & games, & planning to improve their diet also. Goal setting relating to images of success was established. There was lots of fun for all!

January 2007

We are very grateful for Lions Ferrymead's generous support in providing the purchase of a wireless Data Projector for use in the KOOL KIDZ Programme and for the wider Trust’s needs. It was great to have 4 of the Club’s members present for an afternoon tea before Christmas to mark the official gifting of the Data Projector.

2 October 2006

Heads Up Self-awareness Programme for Christchurch Women's Prison

Launches October 2 running all month (24 Hours) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 2 hours each morning.

More information here

15 September 2006

Kiwi Family Trust launch their new website

August 2006

Finding the right PATHS

"A new way of working with people on Sickness and Invalid's Benefits is guiding more people into work."

Download the full article from Work & Income's Canterbury Regional News here (PDF)

30 August 2006

Managing Bullies

"The Kiwi Family Trust’s anti-bullying and self-awareness programme, Kool Kidz, visited
Kendal School last week to the delight of students."

Download the full article from the Christchurch Mail here (PDF)

21 August 2006

Anti-bullying project spreads

"Change at all levels in response to kool message"

Download the full article from the Challenge Weekly here (PDF)