Jordan Parker, School Holiday Programme leader

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 09:56:37 +1200

Jordan Parker, School Holiday Programme leader, tells her story

I first got involved as a family friend of Julie Black two years ago. I'm a student at Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt and I'm in my final year.

Next year I'm keen to go and study exercise science and to be a physio. I really enjoy the recreational part of the holiday programmes - in between organising the kids to get ready and going with all the activities that we do with them.

When we have other events such as the Te Arawa fundraiser I help with as much as I can because I think the Trust is a great environment where everyone just helps and supports each other. The holiday programme is really useful to the community and the kids enjoy it so much.

Julie asked me to assist with the website side of things when Te Hau Rangatahi was picked as the New Zealand charity for FullCodePress, a website-building competition. I helped a lot with the updating of the Facebook and YouTube areas and I think these are going to be great for us all to use to talk to each other.

- Jordan

Julie Black, Trustee

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:13:49 +1200

Julie Black, Trustee, tells her story

I've been living in this community for 25 years, and I know the people. Like the other trustees, I want to see all of our kids do well. Not just mine.

My husband and I had been doing voluntary work with kids for years, and after a short break we wanted to get back into helping kids. We got together with other friends who were doing similar things and it just all came together. We decided to formalise our collective efforts and the timing just happened to be right.

A week later, we started MidValley Athletics to cater for kids in the Naenae area who wouldn't otherwise join athletics. By that stage the performing arts side had already taken off, with the help of a lot of the younger leaders who also wanted to do something in the community - the values in the community are all the same. We all want the same things for the kids and to see them do well.

At one point my husband and I were buying all of the trainers off TradeMe and there'd be someone at the club who would fit them. There was one group of about 30 boys that we all followed through various sports since they were about seven years old. They are all at college now and are doing very well.

I want to keep doing this for as long as I can. We're going to keep doing what we do well - and maybe a bit more to keep up with what the kids are wanting now! We also want our performing arts students to possibly get NCEA credits for their work.

I think the focus should always be on the whānau though. When you work with youth, you don't work in isolation from the family. The parents and the kids are all involved together. They are the community, the people.

- Julie

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Jordan Parker, School Holiday Programme leader