Family Help Trust 

From the right Bill Pringle, Ross Haggart, and Cathie Tatupu from the Family Help Trust, with funders.
​Family Help Trust Report.
The Family Help Trust is helping to make a difference in our community. With funding from Advance Ashburton, Wilson Charitable Trust and the Mackenzie Charitable Foundation the Family Help Trust was established in Ashburton to provide long-term, home-based social work service for families needing intensive support to provide safety and wellbeing for their children aged 0-5 years. Senior social worker Cathie Tatupu, and other representatives from the Trust reported to a meeting of funders that since the service started in July they have worked with ten families and are making real progress in making connections and supporting these at-risk families.

Presentation 

Alan with, from left, Committee member Frank Luxton, Foundation Chair Mary Ross, Trustees and Committee members Ross Gibson and Nicki Webster
Alan Bean has been presented with an award on his retirement from the Foundation’s Investment Committee this week. Committee Chair Ross Gibson said Alan’s contribution since he joined the committee in 2005 has been immense and that his knowledge of of all things “investment” was unparalleled. As a key member of the committee Alan has overseen a period of considerable growth in the Advance Ashburton Investment portfolio enabling the Foundation to support more worthy causes in our district.
Thank you Alan for your enormous contribution.

NEW 
Fund 

The Ashburton College Alumni Fund
 
New fund to assist past and present students and staff
 
The launch of the new Ashburton College Alumni Fund with Advance Ashburton was held on Tuesday September 13, with members of the Alumni Board, the mayor and councillors, College principal and staff, past and present students, Board members from Advance Ashburton and members of the community.
Since the establishment of Ashburton College, funds have been raised and donated to the Ashburton College Alumni Fund and the Ashburton High School Centennial Fund. From these funds scholarships and awards were presented to students.
After the 50th year anniversary of Ashburton College the Alumni Board, headed by Chairperson Peter Gluyas, decided to transfer these funds to a new Trust Fund with the Advance Ashburton Community Foundation.
Peter Gluyas said, “This partnership with Advance Ashburton gives the Ashburton College Alumni group the assurance needed in going forward to achieve our vision and objectives.”
The primary purposes of the new Ashburton College Alumni Trust Fund are to:
  • Provide charitable, educational, and cultural benefit to present and past students and staff
  • Promote the welfare of the present students and staff
  • Continue to provide scholarships to students
​Members of the Alumni Board, from left, Alumni Chair Peter Gluyas, Mark Kennedy, Shirley Falloon, Principal Ross Preece, Alister Argyle, Michael Clark, and Advance Ashburton chair, Mary Ross
At the launch, from left, Peter Gluyus, Mayor Neil Brown, Ashburton College Head girl Jorja Roulston and Head Boy Jack Brown, Advance Ashburton Chair Mary Ross, and Ashburton College Principal Ross Preece

Donor Story 

Kate Syme, Ashburton
Investing in a lifetime’s love for education.
​Kate Syme’s life’s work has focused on the opportunities education can bring across New Zealand. “My experiences in education have made me who I am today,  I believe experiences are very powerful.”
Back in the 1960s, she says, there wasn’t much in the way of career options for young women. “Basically, it was teaching or nursing, that kind of thing. I made up my mind that education was the way I would go and found that I was definitely geared towards working with students.”
Kate met her husband Derek (or “Doc”) at Teacher’s College in Christchurch and they both worked for many years in education, including for a time in Cannons Creek, Porirua. It was here that Kate worked with many children of Pasifika and Māori descent and learned first-hand the barriers they can face to educational opportunities.
“We were always very concerned that everyone had a fair go, and found that there was a heck of a lot of children who, in spite of what they do, they don’t get equal opportunities in education.”
Eventually, the couple returned to Canterbury and Ashburton to retire and, laughs Kate, “we didn’t make 2 months of retirement before we made it back to education.”
Doc continued to work at Ashburton College and Kate continued to work at the College of Education, sometimes based in Wellington, training teachers. 
It was in Ashburton that Kate and Doc heard about the Community Foundations model through Advance Ashburton, and started thinking about the legacy they would leave behind in their community. Sadly, Doc passed away before they had made their final decision.
Kate eventually decided to set something up as a legacy that would help “particularly Māori and Pasifika students to succeed.”
“I’ve been influenced by local people who set up scholarships while they are alive, and were able to enjoy the pleasure of seeing how their money was used. Seeing who it went to and, perhaps establishing a relationship with those people, I thought made far more sense than waiting until after you were gone.”
The Kate Syme Scholarship will be managed as an invested fund with Advance Ashburton Community Foundation. Annually, it will provide tertiary education opportunities for a student, in the first instance of Māori or Pasifika descent, from Ashburton College.
The first scholarship payment is to be made next year, and Kate says that the scholarship will be flexible with regards to the subject and recipient.
“If you’ve got warmth to give, you can share it. I find pleasure in knowing somebody is going to benefit from my giving,” said Kate. “I’m particularly happy that I’ve made the decision to start my fund before I die. I find a sense of excitement with that.”
“Money is nothing unless you can get some enjoyment from it.”

A Fulfilling Way to Give

Locals Bob and Alan Johnston featured recently in a podcast prepared for the Farmer’s Weekly What is your Rural Legacy series.