PRESS RELEASE
7 April 2009

Television Personality To Breakfast For Youth

Television personality and former Silver Fern, April Ieremia, is hoping to offer some personal insights on life and raising kids over breakfast, as part of a unique fundraising initiative for the Foundation for Youth Development.

April said she decided to get behind the charity’s latest fundraiser – the Non-Event of the Year – by auctioning breakfast with her, as a way of helping to support New Zealand youth.

“Today, young people have so many influences coming at them from all directions. They have to deal with peer pressure, school commitments and family expectations, all while trying to find their feet and develop confidence.”

April said she faced a few challenges of her own while growing up.

“I caused a bit of trouble in my teenage years by rebelling against my dad. He was a total authoritarian and there were a lot of boundaries in my religious Samoan upbringing. All I wanted to do was make up my own mind rather than being told what to do.”

She said she’s taken a different approach to raising her two children, aged four and six, by asking them how they feel and what they want to do.

“I believe strongly in being a positive role model. I think it’s really important that young people are given as much support and encouragement as possible to develop into healthy and confident individuals.”

Foundation for Youth Development mountaineer and co-founder, Graeme Dingle, said the Non-Event of the Year is a non-traditional, no frills, no nonsense fundraising initiative.

“In these tight economic times, we don’t want Kiwis to fork out excessive amounts of money to attend a charity dinner. There’s no dressing up and no need to get your hair done just to spend a night with people you don’t really know, snacking on fiddly finger food. Instead, we’re inviting people to help the youth of New Zealand by doing their own thing, whether that’s at home with their family or with a group of friends,” Dingle said.

The breakfast with April will be auctioned online via the official Non-Event of the Year website – www.nonevent.org.nz.

Aside from the auction, people can also select one of five different ticket options for the Non-Event of the Year starting at $50 and going up to $1,000.

“Ticket holders then receive a Liquor King voucher which can be used to select alcoholic or non alcoholic beverage packages to help them host the perfect non-event from the comfort of their own lounge. There’s no black-tie dinner, small talk or C-listers.”

As well as purchasing a ticket or bidding on an auction item, New Zealanders can make a straight donation of $20 in support of young Kiwis.

Funds raised during the six week campaign will be used by the Foundation for Youth Development to further its programmes.

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