15 April, 2011

The success of Purple Cake Day in March is enabling substantial donations to be made to make a positive difference in both Christchurch and Haiti, says the creator of Purple Cake Day.

Purple Cake Day was launched on March 1st this year by the Kenbe La Foundation as a specific day to set aside each year to celebrate children and empower them to help children in need worldwide. Emily Sanson-Rejouis from the Foundation says that the wide support of Purple Cake Day’s fundraising activities has meant that the Foundation is able to give to Christchurch children as well continue its commitments to building a school in Haiti.

“It is fantastic that the Purple Cake Day has been embraced by so many schools from across the country, as well as by businesses, community organisations, families and the media,” Emily says. “Thanks to them, and a contribution from Kenbe La Foundation fundraising, we are donating $15,000 to enable Save the Children to train Plunket and Barnardos staff to deliver Save the Children’s Journey of Hope programme in Christchurch, while still being able to continue our work to build a school in the Leogane Province, Haiti.

“One of the key things we have tried to do since setting up the Foundation was to find specific initiatives that we can measure and see the direct outcomes of for children,” Emily says. “In Christchurch, thanks partly to our donation, lessons learnt from Hurricane Katrina will provide children affected by Canterbury’s earthquakes with important psychosocial support.”

Save the Children developed the Journey of Hope programme after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. Save the Children are now training the local Barnardos and Plunket agencies and other local NGOs to deliver the programme and support an estimated 500 children and their families in Christchurch.

“We know from Plunket and Barnardos staff on the ground in Christchurch that there are a number of families there with children and parents who are suffering the emotional after effects of the earthquake,” Emily says. “After Hurricane Katrina, the Journey of Hope programme had great benefits for affected New Orleans families, so the Kenbe La Foundation is proud to support this programme, which is being adapted for Christchurch. “Meanwhile, in Haiti, there remains much work to be done for the children there in the worse hit province of Leogane, where many children still don’t have schools to go to,” she says. “We are proud that our efforts in New Zealand are ensuring we can still move ahead and build a school for those children. “The way children fell in love with Purple Cake Day this year was incredibly heartwarming and shows that the day has a great future,” she says. The Purple Cake Day team is already planning for a fantastic purple March in 2012, so watch this space.” Statement from Save the Children Fund CEO Liz Gibbs on the KLF donation “We were very grateful for the kind donation made by the Kenbe La Foundation to help us provide training for local organisations like Plunket and Barnardos in Christchurch.

It is a real demonstration of how an organisation like Kenbe La can help support children locally through partnerships and internationally through its own work – and is similar to our model of bringing the Journey of Hope programmes to Christchurch. It’s great to work with like-minded organisations with children at their heart”, said Liz Gibbs CEO of Save the Children New Zealand

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