September 2006 Recipients
Mazda Performing Arts Tuition Scholarships

Young ballerina Katherine Grange (pictured) will follow her dream to pursue prestigious studies in Dance thanks to a generous grant from the Mazda Foundation. The 17-year-old dancer was one of 12 recipients of the 2006 National Young Performer of the Year Award, which received backing from the Mazda Foundation. The Foundation’s $18,000 grant helped provide 12 Mazda Performing Arts Tuition Scholarships for the 2006 National Young Performer of the Year Award winners who will further their training in four categories – ballet, tap, pianoforte and vocal. The grant has come at a significant time for Katherine, who was prevented from taking a place at the prestigious English National Ballet due to a lack of funding. However, the aspiring dancer will use her Mazda Foundation Tuition Grant to commence studies at the New Zealand School of Dance next year. Katherine is just one of the young and exceptionally talented performers recognised at the 2006 National Young Performer of the Year Awards, held in October. Other first place getters were: Andrew Cesan for Tap Dance, John-Paul Muir for Pianoforte and Brigitte Heuser for vocals. Annette Johnston, National Administrator for the Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand says the donation has struck a chord with the performers and she hopes Mazda will continue the relationship for future events. “It was absolutely delightful that Mazda decided to get behind this. This has given 12 very fine young people from all over the country the opportunity to take their careers further. “The 2006 National Young Performer of the Year Award has been an unprecedented success.” A total $4,500 was allocated to each category, with first place getters receiving $3,000, second place getters $1,000 and third place getters, $500. All recipients were identified for having talent, skills and motivation to move onto a professional career in their chosen art form. A record number of competitors (121) traveled to Tauranga from all over New Zealand for the annual competition. The National Young Performer of the Year Award has been running since 1977 and is initiated by the Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand (Pacanz).

September 2006 Recipients
New Plymouth Old Boys Swimming and Surf Club

Aspiring lifeguards will be learning how to save lives with quality equipment this summer thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation. The New Plymouth Old Boys Surf Club, which provides a volunteer service to prevent drowning and injury at Oakura Beach, has received $2446 for three rescue boards for training youth members with the skills they need. We are absolutely rapped to receive this grant. The boards are especially designed for the size of young children. The youth section is an area that we are always trying to establish and being able to provide extra gear for them helps us reach our goal,” says the Club’s Administrator Lynell Taunoa. The Mazda Foundation grant will aid future life guards – Nippers, Rookies and Cadets ranging in age from 5 to 14 – in their surf life saving training programme. The programme involves water and land activities and sessions are held throughout the summer months and there are local competitions that all club members can compete in. The rescue boards are essential for the training and will be put to good use now the 2006/2007 surf life saving season has kicked off. “Surf life saving is great for the young ones. It is fantastic because good friendships are made and they develop life skills,” says Lynell. Youth members are encouraged to sit a surf life saving certificate and when they turn 14 they sit the Surf Life Guard award. After obtaining this award, they move up a level and compete with the senior section of the club and become a patrol member. There are many career paths qualified surf life savers can take, from becoming a Paid Life Guard, Search and Rescue or Coach Force Coaching to a Beach Education Instructor, Coaching and Administrator or management roles.

September 2006 Recipients
TalkLink Trust

Communication is something you can’t live without. Which is why the Mazda Foundation has supported TalkLink Trust – to help enhance communication for New Zealanders who struggle with spoken and written language. A $12,810 grant will increase the range of assessment and trial equipment available to TalkLink clients nationwide and to reduce waiting times for equipment. TalkLink provides a free specialist assessment service to people with a disability, but an obstacle for TalkLink is obtaining equipment funding. “The equipment helps improve quality of life for many people and their ability to communicate,” says TalkLink Trust Manager, Ann Smaill. “The funding from Mazda has enabled us to get additional equipment to make sure people with communicative disabilities are using the right options. “We determine if the technology will assist them in communication. We trial it first on a loan period so we have to make sure that we have the equipment available,” she says. TalkLink provides assistive communicative technology to assist people of all ages, from all walks of life who suffer from communicative disabilities. Assistive technology is an item, piece of equipment or product system used to increase or improve functional capabilities of people with disabilities. While many disorders derive from birth, others are triggered by conditions like motor neurone diseases, head injuries and stroke. TalkLink Trust has centres in Auckland and Wellington and has a therapist in Whangarei and relies on grants, donations and sponsorship for operational costs. During the past two years TalkLink has expanded its services to the whole North Island, which has meant an increase in referrals and increased pressure on the assessment equipment available.

September 2006 Recipients
New Zealand Monarch Butterfly Trust

The Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust was awarded a Mazda Foundation grant of $8,000 back in April so it could embark upon an important project to monitor and protect New Zealand’s endemic butterflies. With funding from the Mazda Foundation, Jacqui Knight from the Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust headed off in September for a whirlwind tour of New Zealand. In just three weeks Jacqui covered over 6,000kms visiting twenty different towns throughout New Zealand from Invercargill to the Far North, in the shiny new butterfly-embellished Mazda3 she fondly refers to as ‘Monica Mazda’ (think Monarch-a Mazda)! Jacqui says the response to the tour has been very positive. “People are starting to realize they are seeing fewer butterflies each and every year. Through these workshops we have recruited a number of people who have committed to regular walks throughout the warmer months, noting down the butterflies they see and then inputting the data into our website. “Data from these monitoring walks is already coming through and we expect to receive a lot more over the summer months. This will give us an idea of how many species we have and where they’re found – vital information if we are to be able to put conservation measures in place.” South Island lepidopterist Brian Patrick says that sadly young New Zealanders are no longer familiar with even the most common butterflies because of the elimination of them from our cities, towns and countryside. “It’s teetering on the edge of survival,” he said. “The plight of our butterfly fauna is heavily dependant on human respect if they are to survive and thrive.”

June 2006 Recipients
The Books for Babes Trust

Auckland City babes will benefit from an educational initiative thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation. The Books for Babes Trust is an initiative set up to stimulate parent and child relationships, form special bonds and increase literacy and set up skills for life. The Auckland City initiative raises funds for the purchase of books which are distributed to homes where children do not always have access to books. Each year it aims to raise $40,000 which goes towards buying books. The generous $5,000 donation from Mazda in its October round of funding has been translated into more than 500 books in homes. “We are over the moon as the grant will buy a lot of books! We are so grateful, it is amazing! If it wasn’t for organisations like the Mazda Foundation we would fall to pieces,” says Books for Babes Trust administrator Liz Patterson. The books are purchased by the Trust and with the help of Auckland District Health Board visiting therapists, Public Health nurses and Plunket nurses, five titles are delivered to a deserving family over a 12 month period. As well as providing youngsters and their families with necessary learning resources, Books for Babes aims to stimulate parent and child relationships by promoting the value of reading to children. Books for Babes caters for the 0-2 year age group – a crucial age in which the bond between mother and child is vital for future stability of the family. Auckland City Libraries assist by ascertaining books that are most appropriate for different age groups and books are available in a range of widely spoken languages, second to English. “It is about finding out what the needs are of the family and seeing if they have books or not,” says Liz. “There has been so much research about how important it is to read to under five year olds. Spending time with a child a doing things together is very important.” However, it’s not just children that benefit from the programme. “We find there are more books in the home at the end of the 12 month period – not just for the children but also for adults,” says Liz.

June 2006 Recipients
Peria School’s Native Tree Nursery

The future generation at Peria School can get their little green fingers stuck into what really counts thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation. Situated in Kaitaia, the lower decile school works hard to ensure students receive the best possible education in the classroom – and out of it. Peria School plans to use a $600 grant from the Foundation for the establishment of a tree nursery for students to propagate native endangered Rata trees. Nestled away in the scenic Oruru Valley, which is named after the Ruru (Owl), the small school is committed to caring for the environment. Principal Dave Sedcole says the goal is to educate students about the precious land that they live on. Peria School students get down with nature under the guidance of tutor Chris Wilson “It is one of the few areas in New Zealand where you can still hear the Kiwi at night. However their numbers are declining due to pests and domestic animals,” says Mr Sedcole. The grant will enable students to participate in protecting forests and give them knowledge and skills to be proactive. “We all must become guardians and do our bit to save endangered animals and plants.” The school has purchased potting mix, seed trays, irrigation, seed raising mix, sand and several utensils for the final implementation stages of the 2006 shade house project.

March 2006 Recipients
Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust

An important project to monitor and protect New Zealand’s native Monarch Butterfly is about to take flight thanks to an $8,000 grant by the Mazda Foundation for a nation-wide research project. Jacqui Knight, Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trustee, said the grant will enable the Trust to embark on a much-needed national research project to find out whether butterfly populations in New Zealand are declining as suspected, and look at what can be done to reverse any adverse impact. “There has been little research carried out on New Zealand’s beautiful and unique butterfly populations, and if we are to conserve species effectively, it is vital that we monitor how they are faring,” said Jacquie Knight. “The Mazda Foundation grant will enable us to conduct workshops around New Zealand to recruit and train people for a butterfly transect monitoring programme and a butterfly tagging programme.” The butterfly transect monitoring programme involves people walking a set route, each week on warm, sunny days between October and March during which they record details of the butterflies they observe in a set space around them. “This is something that anybody could become involved in and is a simple and enjoyable way for people to make a difference,” said Jacqui Knight. “When undertaken over a series of years it provides vital information on butterfly populations and early warnings of species’ decline so we can implement conservation measures before entire species are lost.” The tagging programme will provide valuable information on butterflies’ longevity and dispersal throughout New Zealand as well as their over-wintering habits.

March 2006 Recipients
Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand

“By providing these kids with laptop computers and liaising closely with teachers and schools, we can ensure that lessons are put on to disk and the learning continues uninterrupted for these children,” said Kate Russell of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand. Since the beginning of 2004, the Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand has purchased 40 laptops and through a $15,000 Mazda Foundation grant they have been able to provide another 10 to the young people on their waiting list. That is ten more children who will be able to keep up with their friends and be empowered to make the best of their education. “They are able to get assignments in on time, be set tasks and work by their teacher as well as keeping in touch with the classroom activities and maintaining vital social relationships with their classmates. For many, a laptop is a luxury. For kids with Cystic Fibrosis they are fast becoming an essential tool to ensure education and independence are maximized,” said Kate Russell. One of the recipients of the laptops, Makena Houston of Hawkes Bay (pictured) said: “I have spent so much time in hospital because I had a bad run of chest infections. I would have got so behind if I didn’t have my laptop. It helps me do my homework and I can do really cool presentations on it and I can email my friends which is really great.” Makena and her friend Kimberley who also has Cystic Fibrosis are often in hospital together but because of cross-infection rules they can’t be in the same room. They used to pass notes on a string in a cup between their rooms – now they have laptops they can communicate a bit more effectively!

March 2006 Recipients
Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Programme

The award-winning Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre cares for, treats and rehabilitates 1300 injured native birds each year – including our country’s icon, the Kiwi. The Centre, founded by Robert and Robyn Webb sixteen years ago, takes in all injured birds, and where possible nurses them back to health for release into the wild. A special part of the Centre is the Bayer incubation unit and Kiwi recovery pens. This facility is used to incubate eggs found in the wild and also as a recovery area for injured Kiwi. Over the past twelve years 120 Kiwi chicks have been hatched from the Centre, and on the day zoom-zoom magazine spoke to the Centre, Robert was preparing for the arrival of a female North Island brown Kiwi, which had been attacked by a dog. The Kiwi, aged about six years, has since been released into the wild in time for breeding. In addition to providing a safe environment for the care and rehabilitation of native birds, the Centre provides an education centre for the public on areas of native habitat, birds and animals – and receives tens of thousands of visitors every year. One of the Centre’s more famous attractions is ‘woof woof’ the talking Tui. Robert and Robyn received this bird when it was just five days old, and have cared for it ever since as it couldn’t be released back into the wild. At the age of two, they were in for a great surprise when the Tui one day said – “hello, woof-woof”! Now, ‘woof-woof’ the Tui can string sentences together and puts cockatoos to shame – to the delight of visitors who gawk in disbelief as the bird says to them: “Where have you been?” or “Come up here quick”. Around November the talking Tui greets visitors with a “Merry Xmas”. The Mazda Foundation has donated $2,500 to the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre to assist with the purchase of food, medication, cleaning gear and vehicle costs so that the team can continue their great work of caring for and rehabilitating New Zealand’s native birds.

March 2006 Recipients
Wiri Central

Wiri Central Primary School’s Kapa Haka and Tongan cultural groups are enjoying their new uniforms, purchased through a grant of $4,910 from the Mazda Foundation. These cultural groups perform frequently at school and community events and are a source of pride for the local South Auckland community.

March 2006 Recipients
Paul White – Afflicted with Guillain Barre Syndrome

In July last year, on the eve of his daughter’s tenth birthday, Paul White discovered he was having trouble lifting his shoulder. By the end of the evening Paul couldn’t even hold a teacup and his condition deteriorated so badly that the next day he was admitted to intensive care. Paul was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome, a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system, often causing paralysis as a result. Now almost a year later, and after six months in hospital (two in intensive care), Paul still has no movement in his arms or legs. He is based fulltime at Rehab Plus in Pt Chevalier where he is undergoing intensive physiotherapy to help him build up his muscles and get movement back. Prior to the onset of this debilitating syndrome, Paul was an engineer with a boat-building company, carrying out very physical work. Paul’s goal is to re-train in the boat-building industry as a boat designer, with the goal of eventually resuming employment with his old company in a new role. The course itself will be full-time,two to three years and based at Unitec in Pt Chevalier. The Mazda Foundation grant of $3,800 enabled Paul to purchase a special laptop computer and laser operated keyboard. The equipment, developed by New Zealand technology company Lomak International, enables Paul to use the computer through a light operated mouse and keyboard. A small laser attached to his visor means that by moving his head to direct the laser, Paul can activate the mouse and keyboard. “Having this equipment is going to be great for me long-term, but it has already been a major help. It is all portable so I can take it home with me during my weekend day visits and it means I can access email and the outside world! It has really enhanced my independence so that I don’t need to rely on someone else.”

March 2006 Recipients
Homai Kindergarten

Homai Kindergarten in Manurewa, Auckland received a Mazda Foundation Grant of $2,262 to purchase canvases and art materials for the students aged 4 – 5 years. Each child explored creatively with colour and different textured material and the result is one hundred wonderful works of art! As you can see from the pictures it is wonderful to see what pre-schoolers can accomplish if they are given access to materials and the opportunity to create. There is definitely more than a few budding artists from this Kindergarten and we hope to see them enter the Mazda Emerging Artist Award as they get a bit older!