Kids digging lessons out of classroom
This Christmas, the Herald is featuring 12 charities which have been chosen to get a $10,000 grant from Auckland Airport, as part of its 12 Days of Christmas charity campaign. The $120,000 comes from generous travellers who donate money in globes throughout the airport
Even spare change can make a world of difference.
Auckland Airport’s 12 Days of Christmas charity campaign, which has been running for 11 years, sees a dozen charities receiving $10,000 grants to help with their cause.
The money is collected throughout the year via giant clear globes dotted around the domestic and international airport terminals.
By the end of the year, they are filled with change and different currencies from around the world.
Operations general manager Anna Cassels-Brown said: “In the past 10 years, that means we’ve given around $1.2 million to organisations who’ve benefited from the generosity of our customers.”
This year’s charities are all from Auckland: The NZ Epilepsy Assist Dogs Trust, the Mental Health Foundation of NZ, Brothers in Arms Charitable Trust, OKE Charity, The Touch Compass Dance Trust Board, Auckland SPCA, the Middlemore Foundation, Auckland Medical Research Foundation, Road Safety Education Ltd, Youthline Auckland, Who Did You Help Today? Mothers Project and the Sources of Unconditional Love Charitable Trust.
Going to school is not always about being stuck inside a classroom all day. Students at several schools in South Auckland are doing just the opposite, thanks to a charity that is helping kids learn more about the world outside of the classroom.
OKE Charity has built food gardens for several primary and intermediate schools in the area in the past few years.
Everything from cabbages and tomatoes to strawberries can be found in the raised garden beds and mini-greenhouses, which are all fully sustainable, built by the organisation.
OKE — the Māori word for oak tree — is one of 12 charities to get a $10,000 gift in Auckland Airport’s 12 Days of Christmas initiative.
The grant will help to buy timber, tools and other materials needed to build a garden for a school next year.
Among students already enjoying their garden are children at Bairds Mainfreight Primary School, in Otara, who have had it for almost two years.
Principal Alan Lyth said the pupils who tended to the garden thoroughly enjoyed it and seeing the food it produced.
“They set up a pātaka [community storehouse or pantry] as a result. These kids decided that they would like to give back to the community.”
It was thanks to the generosity of OKE that the students could act on that aim.
An OKE app also allows children to use their tablets to identify the different seeds they have planted and when they need to be doing certain tasks for each plant.
Lyth said the pā taka, just down the road from the school, is so popular that there are now plans to set another one up on school grounds in the coming months.
OKE founder Paul Dickson, who refers to himself as the chief go-getter, said the produce planted very much reflected the community itself — with people from all backgrounds bringing foods to plant. “The vegetables are about 5 to 10 per cent of what we can do in the garden,” he said.
“There are other things being taught here — social life skills, mental health and perspective.”