Hornby/Hope Champions

08/10/2026

A huge thank you to all our Champion businesses who have supported this epic fundraiser with some amazing prizes and promotions.

This will go such a long way toward supporting our work, as we continue to work every day to bring hope in our community and expand horizons for local kids

24/08/2026

This month one of our local students did us proud, performing on the world stage in London - while behind the scenes more work is being done on stages which are smaller, less glamourous, but so important to local kids.

The Court Theatre has spent years nurturing very talented Hornby High School student Alizae, who has just returned from a once in a lifetime trip to perform Shakespeare at The Globe Theatre in London.

But they have also donated their time to run workshops at our Opportunity Hub at Gilberthorpe School for primary school kids who might never otherwise get the chance to discover their talent.

The workshops there look much more chaotic - but the fun, the encouragement and the opportunities they get are shaping a new generation of creative young New Zealanders.

The kids have now filmed two school movies, including script writing, acting, prop creating, filming, special effects, soundtrack recording and finally, seeing their creation on a big screen.

The children have told us the drama classes are really fun, make them excited to come to school, and they are really excited about what they might do in the future.

We hope that might include following in Alizae's footsteps, to one day represent New Zealand on the world stage.

A huge thank you to the team at The Court Theatre for supporting these kids with both your time and your infectious passion for drama and the arts.

And thank you to all our Champions who played a part in helping Alizae make it to London, after she was selected to represent New Zealand at the workshops and performances at The Globe Theatre.

The trip cost $16,000 for flights, fees and expenses - far too much for Alizae's family, who have battled through some really tough times in the past years including big health challenges for younger siblings.

That's when our champions came through.

Special thanks to PAK'nSAVE Hornby and The Hub Hornby who created an amazing donut fundraiser, which helped Alizae raise $11,500 in just one week and made the whole trip possible;

Alizae said she would be forever grateful for the community's support.

She said the trip was a mind-blowing, once in a lifetime opportunity, learning, performing, seeing some amazing performances at The Globe and building her network of students, teachers and directors.

We were also able to raise extra for her very proud mum travel to watch Alizae's final performance at The Globe.

Alizae has come home inspired and hasn't stopped - taking part in the 48 hour film festival, and planning her next steps for next year. She plans to go on to university to study performing arts.

A huge thank you to the whole community helping Alizae and other local kids to imagine a huge, bright future for themselves - and then make those dreams reality.

And to Alizae - we're so proud to see you representing our community so well, and we can't wait to see what you achieve next!

28/07/2026

Keep an ear out for our name while listening to Rhema on the radio this month!

A huge thank you to Rhema Media who have joined us as a Hope Champion Supporter this year, supporting us with advertising to help us spread the word about our services.

Our not-for-profit EAP service helps businesses support their staff, providing professional support at times when their staff are struggling at work or at home.

For every dollar spent on staff wellbeing initiatives, NZ businesses can expect to see a 12x return within a year, according to modeling by Xero and the NZ Institute of Economic Research. Potential benefits include greater staff productivity, reduced rates of burnout and lower staff turnover.

And when using our EAP service, you know all profits are going back to the community - helping low-income families access counselling support when they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to get help.

To find out more visit https://tewhareawhero.org/eap

Thank you so much to the team at Rhema Media for supporting us as we work together to build hope for all those in need in our community.

Listen live at https://www.rhema.co.nz/

30/06/2026

If you've passed the empty shop in The Hub Hornby and seen interesting things going on - here's the lowdown!

It's not a permanent new shop, but a community pop up.

The Hub Hornby has incredibly generously donated the space to us while between permanent tenants.

We've got some of the local businesses who support us involved, including Ebikeznz and MTF Finance Hornby - they'll be down there over the next couple of weeks to talk about services or products they offer, and donating a portion of the proceeds to us to go straight back into the community to support our community work.

Jamie from Ebikesnz will be at the pop up Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri 9am-1pm to show his range of ebikes and mobility scooters.

The team from MTF Hornby will be there Mon-Thurs 12-4pm to talk you through finance options if you're looking at buying a new vehicle, boat or business.

They're just two of the amazing local businesses who have continued to support our community work this year - even though it's been a tough year for business.

Through their donations, we can continue to provide subsidized counselling to those in need, support programmes in local schools, and long-term support to families in Hornby who are really struggling.

And there is more to celebrate, as two more local businesses have joined the ranks as Hope Champions this month!

The first is Cheeky Sparrow, just down from the pop up - a locally owned cafe with an awesome team and a real heart for the community.

The second is Tatawai Botanicals - a new brand of botanical skincare formulated in New Zealand for skin barrier repair.

A huge thank you to The Hub Hornby and to all our Hope Champions for working together to build up our community.

23/06/2026

Here is some good news for your feed!

We’ve been working long-term with children in some of the most isolated and at-risk families in our wider Hornby community.

And we’re seeing real change - children are attending school more regularly, feeling safer at home, and having more stable access to food, according to the latest evaluation report.

The Long-Term Whānau Support Service (LWS) commits to support whānau when their tamariki start school and continue through to the age of 20, until they reach early adulthood.

There are three arms to the project:
- We work intensively with parents, children and wider whānau to build trust and capability;
- We create an Opportunity Hub at their local school with sports, arts, cultural and academic opportunities available to all children at the school;
- We work with the teens as they grow, supporting and encouraging them to see the potential in themselves and take opportunities.

One of the great strengths of the LWS project is our commitment to understanding whether what we are doing is truly making a difference.

To help us do this, Dr Jacinta Cording from the University of Canterbury has independently overseen the evaluation of the project, providing an objective assessment of the impact being created through this long-term approach.

This month she provided us with the second full independent evaluation report, which can be found through the link below.

Using a combination of interviews, questionnaires, and measurable indicators, we have been tracking progress. Because our quantitative baseline was only established at the end of 2024, this report captures just twelve months of measured change. In the context of a long-term support model designed to walk alongside whānau for many years, this is still very early in the journey.

Even so, the findings are incredibly encouraging.

Caregivers and children consistently described homes that felt safer, happier, and more stable. Families reported having better access to necessities such as food and clothing and spoke of growing confidence in their ability to influence their own future, rather than simply reacting to the challenges life places before them.

Many whānau are beginning to think differently about what is possible. Some are setting goals for the future and taking practical steps towards achieving them. Perhaps most importantly, caregivers described developing deep trust in our support team. As a result, they are now more willing to reach out for help when challenges arise, allowing problems to be addressed before they become crises.

The most significant area of measurable improvement was educational engagement. Teachers reported noticeable changes in children's attendance, focus, participation, and readiness to learn. Caregivers were also more actively engaged with their children's schools, helping create stronger connections between home and education.

The evaluation also reminds us that the challenges facing many of our whānau remain significant. The ongoing cost-of-living pressures across New Zealand continue to place enormous strain on families and have limited some of the gains we had hoped to see in the area of economic wellbeing.

We also recognise that many whānau are still developing the confidence and skills needed to navigate challenges independently.

Over the coming year, we will place greater emphasis on employment pathways, financial capability, and supporting families to continue growing in confidence.

One way we often describe this journey is helping people move from being problem deniers, to problem sharers, and ultimately to becoming problem solvers.

Throughout the report, there are many powerful reflections from caregivers, children, and young people. However, one observation from the evaluator perhaps captures the significance of this work best:

"Primary caregivers consistently reported that they had never before received sustained, relationship-based, whole-of-whānau support that begins when children are young and continues through the years of greatest developmental significance."
For us, this statement speaks volumes.

It reminds us that meaningful change rarely happens quickly. It takes time. It takes trust. It takes showing up again and again.

When we commit to walking alongside whānau facing deeply entrenched, intergenerational challenges, and when that support is grounded in genuine relationships and long-term commitment, positive change becomes possible.

Thank you to all our supporters and funders who are making this work possible.

Thank you for believing in this vision. Thank you for standing alongside these whānau. Thank you for helping create opportunities that may otherwise never have existed.

If you have any feedback, questions, or ideas about how we can expand this work to reach more whānau in need, we would love to hear from you.

If you’d like to read the full report or the three page summary, you can find both here:
https://tewhareawhero.org/publications

26/05/2026

A huge thanks to all who joined us to celebrate our Hope Champions at our Breakfast of Champions this morning.

We heard from Rugby World Cup champion Andy Ellis, and from a single mum involved in our Longitudinal Whānau Support project.

What we were struck by was the similarities in their stories - both facing challenges and adversity but finding support from the right people at the right time, and finding a way to overcome and stand proud.

For one the battle was on the world stage with the pressure of a nation watching. For the other the battle was a more private one at home, but with the huge responsibility of creating a better life and future for her children.

Both are champions in our eyes.

A huge thank you to all who came along, to the Hornby Club for hosting us, and to our Hope Champion supporters who make so much of our work in the community possible.

If you'd like to learn more about becoming a Hope Champion, visit https://hopechampion.nz/

06/04/2026

A huge thank you to our newest Hope Champions - Aircon HeatPump Cleaners and Capstone Underground Services

Both are family-owned local businesses working in the Christchurch community, both joining us as Gold Level Champion supporters.

Both have told us about how important it is to them to give back to the communities that have supported them and their businesses.

They share our values and want to do what they can to build up the community, and we're looking forward to partnering with them to do that.

This support will mean more kids will get to school, more solo parents with be supported to create safe, happy homes for their whanau, more young people will get access to affordable counselling when they need it and more support will be available for the most isolated in our communities.

Thank you very much to the teams at Capstone Underground Services and Aircon HeatPump Cleaners

16/03/2026

Being given a vege garden this year has meant more than just healthy veges on the table for one Hornby family: It’s about growing closer together.

They’re one of 31 Hornby families who have been gifted a garden bed, soil, tools and vege seedlings as part of our Grow Hornby project, which is now in its third year.

Their children range in age from teens to a baby, and they’ve all been able to get involved in their own way.

For the little kids, helping to grow the veges means they’re more likely to eat them. For the older ones, they’ve been able to join in and experiment, like testing out a theory about whether playing music to plants helps them grow better - their experiments suggest maybe it does.

It’s been time spent outdoors together, and really good for them mentally.

The fresh vegetables are a bonus.

One in three Kiwi families are now struggling to put nutritious food on the table, according to new data from a New Zealand Food Network survey of 3000 New Zealanders last year.

That comes on top of Ministry of Social Development data in 2023 around the cost of living crisis, which found almost half of New Zealanders had cut back on buying fresh fruits and vegetables.
Our Grow Hornby home vege garden project was started to help, in a real, sustainable way.

The goals of the project are to help families access healthy food at home, to help improve mental and physical health, to help families build connections within their community through sharing produce and advice, and to build joy, purpose and self-confidence for both adults and children involved.

The project has been made possible through support from the Hornby Community Menzshed who have built the garden frames, The Warehouse Hornby who have donated gardening tools, financial support from our Hornby/Hope Champions businesses, and many hours donated by the amazing volunteers who have shoveled soil, grown and donated more than 1000 seedlings this year, and helped with ongoing support for the families who are sometimes growing gardens for the first time.

Families given gardens have told us this is making a real difference to their health and their happiness.

Three years in, some of the families are now enabled to give back, by sharing some of the veges they have grown with others in their community.

And we’re now preparing to take the next step in the project, bringing a co-ordinator on board to expand Grow Hornby further.

A huge thanks to our Champion businesses, and all the wonderful people who have helped to make this possible

23/02/2026

Belated Welcome to 2026. As we head into the year we're thinking of all the opportunities our Hope/Hornby Champions helped get behind in 2025. From a community treasure hunt, school garden transformation to continuous impact for our young people and the provision of affordable counselling sessions.

We're grateful to all of our Champions, and we're looking forward to do even more this year.

03/02/2026

Thanks to Champions like you, our clients get to see their lives transformed in big, and small, ways. One of those ways? Affordable, professional counselling right here in Hornby.

We're here to talk, support, and ready when you are. Professional, affordable counselling for anything big or small. Call today, or head to our website, to book a session.