The Max Foundation for New Zealand Women has announced the winning applicants for its Winter 2013 round of cash grants.
In 2008, iconic fashion retailer Max created the Max Foundation, a charitable trust “to support individuals and initiatives whose actions enhance and inspire the wellbeing and advancement of New Zealand women.”
In the past year the Foundation has given away grants of around $20,000. These funds were raised via special events, run in conjunction with EVENT Cinemas, and the sale of special merchandise through Max’s 31 stores.
The first recipient, Elena Keith has received a grant of $10,000 to go towards her Auckland based mentoring programme for deaf teens called Hear For You.
The programme helps teens that have chosen spoken language as their preferred medium of communication to develop greater confidence in their leadership and social skills. Keith, who is also hearing impaired, “remembers all too well how challenging my teenage years were.
Elena Keith
I’m so grateful to be able to offer a programme to others so they can accept that their hearing loss is not a disadvantage, just a difference”. Keith’s 2014 goal is to establish Hear for You in the South Island in a response to numerous requests from parents in the region.
The second recipient, Kate Barron, was granted $5000 in travel costs to be assessed for artificial limbs in the USA. Barron was 24 when she was injured in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. After being trapped in the PGG Building for 12 hours she sustained crush injuries that meant both her legs and hip joints had to be amputated.
Kate Barron
Barron is determined to overcome the challenges posed from her injury, driven by her personal motto, “I’m still myself, just a tad shorter.” She has progressed from doing 4 hours of work a week to 12 hours currently and hopes to increase this to 16 hours this month.
Lastly, Auckland’s Rise UP Trust received $5000 towards resourcing their programme Beautiful Daughters, aimed at providing foundational life skills for South Auckland girls aged 5-15 years. The aim is to mentor the girls to develop a strong sense of identity and self-esteem through sessions focused on cooking, sewing, exercising, applying science, technology and math and learning about wellbeing and true beauty from the inside out.
Rise UP Trust
Chief Executive Sita Selupe says, “We identified the need for a Beautiful Daughters programme while running our core Rise UP Building Learning Communities project. We ran a pilot programme in Term 4 2012, and the outcomes were amazing. The young women are flourishing and asking for more.”
On making a decision in regards to the Max Foundation grants, National Retail Manager and Trustee Karma Wetere explains, “again we have had a round of equally deserving applications, this round was no easier than other years but we definitely encourage those who missed out not to be discouraged and to apply again. It is an absolute honour to award grants this year to the inspiring Kate Barron and the two organisations helping NZ teens.”
The applications received for the Winter 2013 round fell across all categories, which include creative arts, sport/leisure, work/study, special event/initiative/organisation and personal dream/goal.
Applications are now open for Summer 2013 funding round and can be accessed at www.maxfoundation.co.nz