Downsizing Hill Top School donates its resources

ress Release Thursday 25th June

“Still doing good, despite tough times”

Downsizing Hill Top School donates its resources to charities

Times have been tough for us all in this economic climate. None would say more so than the board at Hill Top School, who recently had to make the decision to restructure; downsize the school, sell its premises and move to a new location. With only 50 students registered in advance of the 2009 year, falling to only 4 by the start of the year, the new Principal Mark Broadwith, was a man with a very tough job ahead of him when he joined Hill Top back in January. Despite the burdens placed on him, he states “Hill Top School still stands for good quality education. We can carry on through this and rise up from it”.

Leaving the past behind and wiping the slate clean is the tactic Mark has chosen to rebuild Hill Top School, which will be at a new currently undetermined location. As the school downsized, they chose to contact DonateNZ to donate their excess resources to the community. Having gone from a roll of approximately 300 five years ago to 65 last year, and 4 currently, they certainly changed their requirements!

DonateNZ (www.donatenz.com) is a not-for-profit website which connects people who have something to give, with organisations who can use it. In most occasions when someone has something to donate, they use the interactive online portal to connect with a local school, playcentre or charity.

However, circumstances were a little different this time. Claire Sawyers, Creator and CEO of DonateNZ states “I first received a call from the school when they started to pack everything up. Bobby Dempsey, (a staff member), thought there might be about a van full of odd things to donate. As they were on a limited time frame I thought it might be a good idea to view it, to ensure that they found the right organisation who could take it all”. “However, when I came past the school, I was blown away! There was much more than a van full that they wanted to donate”. Originally the school had listed the items for sale on TradeMe, as well as emailing local schools. However, the process was labour intensive and the offers made were minimal. Mark from Hill Top School states “I would far rather see stuff go to beneficial and worthy causes, such as schooling in the Islands and organisations with less funding in our community”.

Thus, on Thursday the 25th of June at 1pm, a bittersweet and out-of the-ordinary occasion occurred at Hill Top School in Blockhouse Bay. 15 DonateNZ members, who are all not-for-profit organisations, converged on the school with trailers in tow, ready and willing to be the unintentional benefactors of this unfortunate event. Furniture, arts & crafts equipment, appliances, sports gear and much more, were shared out within the organisations who attended. Many more received heaps more than they had ever expected to take home. One happy Recipient on the day was Happy Families Playgroup of Papakura. Their representative, Sarah Martin commented, “Being a newly established playgroup and currently receiving no form of funding, it’s been a real struggle to get up and running. We’ve been extremely grateful for our wish for items being granted by Hill Top School, via Donate NZ. Up until recently we had only 6 chairs for the 25 children we’ve got enrolled, so this support has been invaluable!”

This schools philanthropy at this time is surely commendable. Mark Broadwth thinks otherwise, “Even when times are tough it’s important to do what you can to help others. It’s as simple as that”.

DonateNZ Member Organisations who benefitted from Hill Top Schools kind donation were:

• YWCA Wanganui, Wanganui
• Happy Families Playgroup, Papakura
• Ranginui Te Whare Akoranga Reo, Kaitaia
• Health Foundations Journey, Hamilton
• ECPAT NZ, Grey Lynn
• Woodhill Girl Guides, Woodhill
• Horowhenua Adult Literacy, Levin
• Warkworth Playcentre, Warkworth
• Bucklands Beach Playcentre, Bucklands Beach
• Rise Up Trust, Weymouth
• Island Child Charitable Trust, Point England
• Pukekohe Playcentre, Pukekohe
• Welcome Bay Community Centre, Tauranga
• Auckland Migrant Services, Three Kings
• Te Atatu Peninula Playgroup, Te Atatu
• Mangere Bridge Playcentre, Mangere
• Children's Autism Foundation, Auckland CBD
• Red Hills Kindergarten, Massey
• Albany City Church, Albany
• Blockhouse Bay Senior Citizens Hall, Blockhouse Bay
• Ponsonby OSCAR, Ponsonby

High resolution photos are available from the DonateNZ news item on the website here: http://www.donatenz.com/OurCommunity/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=11727

Donate Charitable Trust, aka DonateNZ (www.donatenz.com) is a not-for-profit community organisation, charities registration number CC35191, which is currently seeking sponsorship and funding to continue its’ good works.

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