For the past 14 years the Graeme Dingle Foundation Marlborough has empowered thousands of young people through its Kiwi Can, Stars and Career Navigator programmes.
Established locally in 2011 and closing this month, the charity delivered more than 10 million student learning hours and built up its services to support more than 4,500 students a year, with more than half in programmes every week. The organisation collaborated with more than 250 businesses and organisations to support its work and initiated hundreds of projects to give back to the community, sometimes mobilising up to 1100 volunteers at a time.
Mayor Nadine Taylor said Graeme Dingle Foundation Marlborough had been an important part of the community through its “highly successful and impactful programmes.”
“Council has partnered with them since 2019 to deliver the innovative and award-winning Future of Work Conference which has inspired thousands of young people in our region towards their future career path. This event has been recognised as a national leader in showing how to prepare young people for the evolving world ahead.
“To Kelvin and the team, you have our sincere thanks for the countless hours spent supporting the young people of Marlborough as well as the many community projects you have given your time to. You are our stars, and we thank you,” Mayor Taylor said.
The organisation has also become well-known for unique fundraising events including the ‘Drop for Youth’ initiative, which in one year saw 100 Marlburians jumping from planes raising more than $100,000, and the dunking of local celebrities including Mayor Taylor for the cause.
Outgoing Regional Manager Kelvin Watt said one of the proudest achievements was the incredible stories from young people.
“These stories never failed to bring happy tears to our eyes - comments such as ‘Kiwi Can makes you stronger and builds your confidence and convinces you you’re not worthless’ and ‘Stars has changed my life.’ That’s the best kind of legacy we could wish for and that’s been possible because of all the incredible people and organisations who supported us in a million different ways - thanks a million Marlborough,” Kelvin said.
