Powering Your Community Fund Winners 2024

We are pleased to announce our latest round of successful grant recipients for Pulse Energy’s Powering Your Community Fund - Each organisation will receive $1,000 towards their project/initiative. 

Food For Love 

Wanaka, Upper Clutha 

Food For Love is a volunteer-led charitable organisation that provides free home-cooked meals to those facing challenging times in the Upper Clutha region. Their recipients include individuals and families dealing with illness, injury, surgery recovery, bereavement, mental health struggles, new parenthood, and aging. They operate with over 170 dedicated volunteers, many who are home cooks who prepare meals and baked goods from their homes using ingredients provided by Food For Love. In the last financial year alone, Food For Love volunteers prepared and delivered over 9,000 meals. 

A grant from the Pulse Energy fund will enable them to secure additional ingredients, in particular dairy products, fresh produce and meat, which is what they struggle the most to get. This, in turn, will help alleviate the pressure on individuals and families facing challenging times by ensuring they receive nutritious, comforting meals when they need them most. 

Te Taitimu Trust 

Te Hauke, Hawke’s Bay 

Te Taitimu Trust, established in 2007, aims to address Māori health disparities and cultivate future leaders. While initially focused on suicide prevention, the Trust has expanded its scope to encompass broader mental health and wellbeing initiatives. Their workshops and hands-on activities teach sustainable farming practices and traditional harvesting methods, contributing to cultural identity and environmental care.  

The Pulse Energy fund will be used to establish the Garden Infrastructure by purchasing essential items like raised garden beds, seeds, compost, and gardening tools. This infrastructure is crucial for creating a sustainable garden space where our Rangatahi and Whanau can actively participate and learn. 

The grant will support the development of hands-on workshops for Rangatahi, Whanau, and the wider community. These workshops will focus on traditional Māori gardening practices, sustainable food cultivation, and healthy eating habits, contributing to long-term community wellbeing. 

As part of the broader Te Taitimu Trust initiatives, this funding will help enhance the scale and reach of the Māra kai, ensuring they can involve more community members and create a hub for learning and growing food together. 

Giving Aroha 

Anzac Park, Nelson 

Giving Aroha provides meals at Anzac Park, Nelson on a Sunday evening for the homeless and those in need.  

The grant from the Pulse Energy fund will be used to purchase food for the homeless and other vulnerable people across Nelson. The funding will go a long way to help those in need.  

Age Concern Wellington 

Wellington 

At Age Concern, they are committed to promoting the rights, wellbeing and quality of life for older people in their region. Their vision is for their older people to be a thriving, respected and engaged part of the community. 

They do this through providing high-quality services like the Companion Walking Service, Visitor Service and Steady as You Go falls prevention classes. They also offer educational workshops assisting seniors with confidence in using digital devices and online safety as well as safer driving refresher courses. 

Age Concern runs a Christmas initiative project that provides a small gift bag to the most isolated and alone seniors they know. The bag contains items that are both practical and useful for seniors and also a few treats for them to indulge in a little, something they are rarely able to do.   

This grant will assist them to reach more isolated and lonely seniors and provide items in their giftbag.  

Huntly Swimming Club Incorporated 

Huntly 

Huntly Swimming Club is a community-based non-profit club that meets at the Huntly Aquatic Centre.  The club consists of children ranging in age from 8 to 17 years and the swimmers come from Huntly, Ngāruawāhia and the wider Waikato West rural communities. They provide swimming instruction, coaching and recreational swimming opportunities for their swimmers to compete and represent Huntly in local, regional and national swimming events.    

Their swimming equipment has been affected by mould and damp conditions. This grant will allow them to purchase new kickboards so that their Rangatahi can use good quality equipment that is safe and sanitary. 

Tarras School 

Tarras, Central Otago 

They are a small, rural school located in Tarras, 25 minutes from Cromwell and Wanaka. They are a strong farming community and are well connected and supported by their community. They currently have 20 Tamariki at school who are kind, hardworking and enthusiastic.  

As they are so small, their funding is limited. They have a library that they love to visit, however the space has no heating or cooling. The fund will help provide necessary heating and cooling, allowing them to enjoy the space and keep moisture away from ruining the books. 

Inllit Tamariki  

Hawke’s Bay 

Inllit Tamariki is a school-based program dedicated to promoting the health, well-being, and cultural identity of children in high-deprivation areas of Hawke’s Bay. Their approach centers around providing a safe and empowering environment for Tamariki to learn and grow. They focus not only on academic success but also on mental health, physical well-being, and a sense of belonging through the celebration of Pacific languages and cultures. To date, over 480 children have graduated from the program, leaving with new skills, greater confidence, and a strengthened connection to their cultural roots. 

The program not only promotes cultural identity and well-being, but it also introduces Tamariki to a wide range of health and fitness activities they might not otherwise encounter, such as jiu-jitsu, pickleball, karate, swimming, and more. These activities expose children to healthy lifestyles and empower them to stay active. Additionally, they take the children on visits to local health clinics, where they learn about available services and resources for themselves and their families. This is crucial in communities where access to health services may be limited or underutilized. 

The grant would directly support these efforts by covering essential costs like venue rentals for the fitness activities, travel expenses for transporting children and mentors to various facilities and clinics, and the facilitation of the in-school sessions, which are run by dedicated mentors who guide and support the children throughout the program. 

Moera Community House Inc 

Moera, Lower Hutt 

The Moera Community House aims to be the heart of a vibrant community. Its mission is to improve the wellbeing of the wider Moera community through community education, training, social, cultural and recreation programmes and activities. Te Roopu Tuitui o Moera (Moera Knitting Group) meets weekly at Moera Community House to knit warm clothing for babies, children and adults in the local area. They were finalists in the 2023 Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards. 

The need to keep babies and children warm continues to grow each year, driven by rising unemployment and an increase in social housing. Last year, the knitting group donated 1,466 items to 4 schools, 3 preschools and several community groups in Lower Hutt, areas facing high levels of deprivation and inequality. These communities included large numbers of underprivileged children, many from Māori and Pacific backgrounds, as well as refugees, immigrants and multiethnic families. The young mothers who received baby packs felt supported and very grateful, while schools and community groups appreciated the knitted garments that helped keep the children warm.  

The funding will allow them to purchase balls of 8-ply, machine-washable 100% wool. This will enable them to knit blankets for Hapu Mama newborn baby packs, and hats, scarves, and handwarmers for road patrol packs at 4 schools. The group will purchase the wool within a month, knit it into garments over the following months and then distribute them. Baby blankets in newborn baby packs will be distributed at programmes held early next year, while school road patrol packs will be donated to Randwick, Gracefield, Wainuiomata Primary and Arakura schools in May as the weather becomes cooler. 

Waka of Caring 

Manurewa, Auckland 

Community Groups Feeding the Homeless Inc. collaborates with around 15 informal volunteer groups in Auckland that feed and provide support to homeless and other vulnerable people. 

Waka of Caring is holding classes for local people (Manurewa, Auckland) to gain their learner licenses, and to write their CVs. Many of the participants cannot learn in a large classroom situation and have barriers with reading and writing. The fund will go towards a contribution to the purchase of tablets. These would be used by groups both for the licenses and the CVs. 

Orini Combined School 

Orini, Waikato 

They are a small rural school, approximately 30km north of Hamilton, of only 86 students from Years 0-8. Their Tamariki needs learning more ways in which to protect, conserve and future proof this environment through moving to a Zero Waste school and making choices (both within school and our home) to save water. 

The school will benefit through less waste needing to be transported from the school to the waste station in Hamilton and their precious bore water being used more mindfully. The grant will help with recycling bins, compost bins and a composter, water collection stations, and resources to support the teaching and learning of these initiatives.