This month, we’re talking to a range of local heroes who keep our charitable organisations running. We speak to them about what their organisations do, their goals and how Channel readers can support them, which includes everything from giving blood, mentoring, donating or simply buying a coffee from a café that employs young adults who are neurodiverse.
Sarah Dann-Hoare:
Project Employ & Flourish Café
Sarah Dann-Hoare has lived on the Shore since 2003, after moving from the UK with her husband and two young children. She founded Project Employ in 2021 after becoming disheartened as a teacher by the lack of employment opportunities for her neurodiverse students once they left school. Project Employ is a real labour of love for her whole family, with her children, Melissa and Tim, now volunteering their time as the charity’s graphic designer and cinematographer.
Channel Mag: Tell us briefly about your charity.
Sarah Dann-Hoare: Project Employ supports neurodiverse young adults (aged 18-28) to become work-ready and gain meaningful, paid employment. We provide six months’ employability skills training in Flourish Café, and then support our graduates to gain and maintain paid employment in their preferred careers. We also work with businesses to assist them through the initial recruitment stages and offer ongoing guidance once employment has been offered to a Project Employ graduate. Along with our training café at 19 Como Street Takapuna, we also run a paid internship programme in our second Flourish Café, based in Air New Zealand’s Fanshawe Street head office. So far, 33 young people have graduated from our training programme, with over 60% now in employment or paid internships within the local community.
Can you share with us a heart-warming story about your charity?
David joined Project Employ with the aim of getting a job working outdoors, as part of a small team, somewhere on the Shore. Although he’d completed some volunteer work, he was aware he needed to develop key employability skills and become more confident talking to others if he was going to gain paid employment. With the support of job coaches and through positive interactions with our customers, David’s confidence grew and, after graduating, he completed a paid internship as a gardener at a retirement village. Around this time, we were approached by Dutton Stormwater, Birkenhead, who were actively looking to diversify their workforce and felt they could offer an inclusive, supportive working environment in which one of our graduates could thrive. David was interviewed and offered the role of yardman. Several months on and David is loving his job, as it’s outdoors based on the Shore, and he’s working in a small team. He participates in their yoga and basketball sessions, and his confidence continues to soar. David is living his best life, and Dutton Stormwater has gained a hardworking, confident yardman.
Why do you love doing what you do?
I have the privilege of seeing trainees transform from being extremely anxious, lacking self-belief and often unable to name one positive thing about themselves, into work-ready, confident young adults, proudly giving their graduation speeches to a room full of guests. I then get to see the excitement in their eyes when they tell me they’ve been offered a job, and they begin to realise they now have choices, can become financially independent, and have the futures which they’ve dreamed of.
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you wish for your charity?
To become financially sustainable and open Flourish Cafés throughout NZ, so that more neurodiverse young adults can develop the skills needed to gain employment and live their best lives.
What can Channel readers do to support your charity?
Pop into Flourish Café. Every interaction trainees have with our customers takes them one step closer to being work-ready. Employ our hardworking, motivated graduates. Contact emily@projctemploy.nz to find out how to become an employer partner. You can also donate or become a corporate sponsor.
Flourish Café is at 19 Como Street, Takapuna and in Air New Zealand’s Fanshawe Street head office. Contact Sarah at sarah@projectemploy.nz
Visit: projectemploy.nz
Christie Stuart: Big Buddy
Christie Stuart has grown up on the North Shore. She lives in the East Coast Bays with her husband, Greg, and two children, Ellie and Cody. Christie is the co-CEO of Big Buddy, alongside Steve Sobota, who has been at the organisation for over 20 years. Big Buddy works on the simple philosophy that a boy will benefit greatly from having a positive male role model in their life. Christie has experience in sponsorship, fundraising, marketing and events over the course of her career, including working at North Harbour Stadium, The Warriors, AJ Hackett Bungy, NZ Maritime Museum and the North Harbour Club & Charitable Trust.
Channel Mag: Tell us briefly about your charity
Christie Stuart: Big Buddy is all about building confidence and resilience in boys who don’t have a dad in their lives. We match boys aged seven to 17 with good guys from the community, Big Buddies, who volunteer their time. The Big Buddy relationship offers friendship, support and a good male role model to look up to. We have two programmes, tailored to the boys' needs at that stage of their lives. Big Buddy One-2-One matches one boy with one volunteer male role model, a Big Buddy. Big Buddy Group is a new programme for teenage boys aged 14-17. Big Buddy Group is a course for up to 12 boys and is guided by a facilitator, volunteer Buddies and outdoor instructors in a safe and supportive group setting over eight weeks. This programme is currently being offered in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga in terms two and three of this year, with the Hamilton region set to be included in 2026.
Can you share with us a heart-warming story about your charity?
I love hearing from our Big Buddies. In our group chat, I get to see photos of the little buddies out with their Big Buddies as they proudly share what they are doing – hiking waterfalls, building sheds, visiting exhibitions, surfing. It’s lovely to hear the phone ping and know that’s what they are up to right now.
The most incredible stories are normally those shared by our mums and carers. I attended a homecoming hui at the close of one of our group programmes last year. One of our boys stood up and spoke with such raw emotion; he talked about the person he wanted to be and how he wanted to treat those around him. The really moving moment came later as his mum took me aside, she shared that this was the first time she had seen her son cry. His father had passed away in an accident several years earlier. He hadn’t cried at the time, or at the funeral, and since then he had been the ‘man of the house’ and never worn his emotions on his sleeve. Spending time in the group environment alongside his peers and the mentors had allowed him the safe place to not only feel those emotions, but to show them. It really took my breath away to know that was the impact it had on one boy and one whanau and that was happening right around the room.
I’ve also recently heard from a Big Buddy whose ‘Little’ Buddy is now in his 30s and married with a child of his own. The Big Buddy has stepped into being more of a grandfather figure. Incredible to think that their connection is still going strong after all these years.
Why do you love doing what you do?
I feel such a sense of pride being able to stand alongside the mums that our Big Buddies support. As a mum myself, I know how important it is to have a support network and good people around you as life throws you curveballs. I’m also aware that life can change in an instant; I love that I get to see the impact of our work firsthand. We are shaping the future not only for these boys, but their mums, carers, whanau and even the Big Buddies. The support from our wider community is amazing and makes me feel thankful every day.
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you wish for your charity?
We are so lucky that we have these amazing guys put up their hands to volunteer their time and become Big Buddies, I wish we had more of them! We have over 117 boys on our wait list currently, and if I could wave a magic wand, it would be to have all those boys matched with a good guy as soon as possible.
What can Channel readers do to support your charity?
Put up your hand to volunteer, or give someone you think could be a good Big Buddy a tap on the shoulder. Normally these guys need a bit of a nudge to know that they could be exactly who we are looking for. There are lots of boys waiting inside the Channel region and right around Auckland who would love a chance to meet their future Big Buddy. If you don’t have time to volunteer, we would love you to become a Mighty Mate as part of our regular giving programme and support the recruitment and screening of new Big Buddies.
Lewis Catterall: NZ Blood
Lewis Catterall is the donor relations co-ordinator for the New Zealand Blood Service, he has lived on the North Shore for over 50 years and says he would never live anywhere else. Lewis has had a diverse career in both corporate and small business, and says this role at NZ Blood is the perfect fit and the best job he has ever had.
Channel Mag: Tell us briefly about your charity
Lewis Catterall: Our donors are lifesavers, and NZ Blood simply drives the rubber boat for them. Blood donations can help to save up to three lives and plasma donations can be used to produce 11 different life saving products.
Can you share with us a heart-warming story about your charity?
Our donors all have their own reasons to donate. Some for altruistic reasons, some to replace blood that they may have received in a transfusion in the past and also others who have seen loved ones in hospital receiving blood or plasma transfusions and wanted to donate to help others.
Why do you love doing what you do?
How can you not? Every day, I meet caring, giving people who simply want to help others and save lives.
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you wish for your charity?
That more New Zealanders donate plasma. Because we are no longer self-sufficient as a nation, we need to buy plasma from overseas. It has been estimated that we spend around $10 million per annum buying plasma from America. We have the resources, we simply need more people to donate.
What can Channel readers do to support your charity?
Visit nzblood.co.nz and find your nearest donor centre, then come in and donate.
What’s the best thing about living on the Shore?
"He aha te mea nui? Māku e kī atu, he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata"
What is the most important thing? Let me tell you, it is people, it is people, it is people.
Visit: nzblood.co.nz
Ann Tod: Hospice North Shore
Ann Tod is the chair of Harbour Hospice Board of Trustees; she’s lived on the North Shore since 1980. Ann joined the Harbour Hospice board in 2017, having met its former chief executive, Jan Nichols, and other board members, through work or Rotary. She accepted the chairperson role in November 2019 and says she’s proud of how the team and community supported Hospice through Covid-19 and the successful campaign to fund the redevelopment of their North Shore site through that period. Ann worked at KPMG for her entire professional career, retiring as an audit partner in 2020. Ann has a very full life outside this role; she is married with three daughters and two grandchildren, is a Rotarian and a member of the Netball North Harbour board, receiving an MNZM for services to netball. Ann was very humbled to be accepted into the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame in 2022.
Channel Mag: Tell us briefly about your charity
Ann Tod: Harbour Hospice is the only specialist palliative care provider for families on the North Shore, Hibiscus Coast and in Warkworth/Wellsford. We provide compassionate care to patients and families and whānau, mostly in their homes, but also within our three hospice sites. This care is free of charge thanks to the generous support of our community. Our services include medical care, spiritual and emotional support, physiotherapy and complementary therapy, social activities and more. We care for one in three people who are dying in our community.
Can you share with us a heart-warming story about your charity?
I love attending our annual Long Service Awards, which celebrate the dedication of staff and volunteers who have been with Harbour Hospice for 5, 10, 15, 20 and even 30 years. Each team leader puts so much thought into expressing the difference each person makes to enable Hospice to be there for whānau and families.
Why do you love doing what you do?
I’ve learned that it’s good to talk about dying – the anxious feeling I had walking into my first board meeting was gone in minutes and I felt warm and calm. Hospice is about helping people live their best lives!
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you wish for your charity?
Looking to the future, I’d love for more people to know that Hospice services are available for anyone with a terminal illness, much earlier in their journey than people think. And that, for many of us, we can be looked after at home.
What can Channel readers do to support your charity?
Health NZ provides around half our annual funding needs, and we rely on the generous support of our community to make up the shortfall, so all donations, no matter the size, are very gratefully received. During May, we are running Harbour Hospice Awareness Month, where local businesses Mason Containers, Move By Design, Diamond Fusion, and Northland Waste are matching online donations, dollar for dollar, up to the value of $20,000. So, people can double their impact. To support our campaign and help make a difference, visit harbourhospice.org.nz/awarenessmonth
What’s the best thing about living on the Shore?
Love being so close to the beach and great parks for the grandkids to explore and play.
Visit: harbourhospice.org.nz
