The Marton Football Club under 10’s have been awarded $1,948.19 from the Mazda Foundation to purchase 20 new playing kits for the team.

As the only football playing group in a town of just 4,500 people, it is hoped that the new kits will help to raise the profile of Marton Football Club, encouraging other young players to get involved in the sport.

Marton Football Club’s mission is to make the game accessible to youth of any age in the Marton Community. They aim to grow and develop the club so that they have teams in every grade.

Nova Montessori School has been awarded $1,500 to purchase rainwater tanks and further develop its permaculture garden.

Following the Christchurch earthquakes, the need for self-sustainability became apparent and the school has put significant effort into educating its students around sustainable, low-impact methods of living.

The new rainwater tanks will collect water, providing and supplying the school with “free energy,” while removing the reliance on the city’s water supply. The Bokashi Bins, along with worm farms and compost will provide an effective, environmentally friendly waste management system.

SPCA Auckland has been granted over $7,000 by the Mazda Foundation to purchase 10 Samsung tablets for callout staff to use on the road, meaning they will have wireless access to the ‘Petnet’ system, which stores all records of animals and complaints.

Currently, on-call staff have to travel back and forth from the office to review their files and emails. This takes up a lot of time and resources which would be better spent attending jobs and helping animals.

SPCA’s Auckland inspectors collected more than 6,000 animals and travelled 380,000km on callouts over the previous year. These tablets will increase the efficiency of this already incredible service.

St. Clair Surf Lifesaving Club has been awarded $5,000 by the Mazda Foundation to purchase four paddle boards for the Junior club. These boards will be used for both training and competing and are an integral piece of equipment for a Junior Lifesaver in training.

Junior membership at the club has grown from 30 to 120 children over the past five years. With such an increase in numbers there has been a lack of resources to service the entire membership and provide the proper training required to develop future Surf Lifesavers. These four boards will ease the pressure on the existing resources.

These are fantastic skills for young people to learn because New Zealand has some of the world’s most treacherous beaches.

Stoke Playcentre, based in Nelson, has been granted $2,170 by the Mazda Foundation to create a Pasifika themed sandpit including a palm tree cover to provide the children with protection from the elements during playtime.

The centre’s focus is on learning through play and encourages child initiated play with the belief that it provides older children with the opportunity to model positive qualities to their younger members.

The centre has already completed extensive fundraising to build a big swing in their play area and need the sandpit to finish off their outdoor play environment.

Pindrop Foundation, a Meadow Bank based charity in Auckland, received $5,000 from the Mazda Foundation to fund a school outreach program. The aim of the program is to educate Kiwi kids about how to protect their hearing from noise induced hearing loss, New Zealand’s fifth largest claim on ACC.

Noise is a significant cause of hearing loss which is estimated to affect 65,000 New Zealanders and is reaching epidemic proportions across the country. Pindrop plans to launch a programme which focuses on teaching students about the dangers of hearing loss and the importance of protecting their hearing for the future.

The organisation’s initiative is focussed on prevention rather than cure by raising awareness of hearing loss and the importance of hearing protection.

Mobility Dogs Assistance Trust, based in Auckland, has received $1,000 from the Mazda Foundation to assist with the care of their puppies.

The charitable trust provides people living with long term physical disabilities with a dog to aid their mobility.

Mobility dogs are trained in a range of special tasks to be able to functionally assist people with severe disabilities and are trained to meet their owner’s specific needs. This can range from barking for help, to paying for purchases across the counter or taking shoes and socks off.

The puppies undergo intensive training to ensure that they can meet their owner’s demands which requires them to stay at the Trust’s kennel and training facility for long periods of time. Bedding needs to be changed daily in order to ensure the dogs are healthy and well cared for. The grant from the Mazda Foundation will be used to purchase a new dryer to enable bedding to be cleaned and dried more efficiently.

The Marlborough Falcon Conservation Trust based in Blenheim has been granted $2,512 by the Mazda Foundation to assist in the purchase of an essential incubator and brooder for its New Zealand Falcon captive breeding and release programme.

The famous New Zealand Falcon, featured on New Zealand’s $20 note, is the country’s only remaining endemic native bird of prey and is considered a nationally threatened species and at risk of extinction. The purchase of an incubator and brooder will increase the number of breeding techniques available to the Trust and support them in achieving a successful breeding season.

The grant is intended to help to safeguard the national treasure by improving breeding and rehabilitation facilities resulting in the release of as many birds as possible into the wild.

Victory Playcentre, based in Nelson, has received $2925.60 from the Mazda Foundation to purchase new bark for the centre’s play area.

The playground is used every day by the children and over time the bark had begun to get packed down and was verging on the minimum depth of bark required for the children’s safety.

The new bark will ensure the children remain safe when they play. The bark will be used for the play area and also for an obstacle course, which is set up most days.

Wellington Zoo has been granted $3,650 from the Mazda Foundation for assistance with food, medicine and habitat costs for its Tuatara conservation programme.

Tuataras are native to New Zealand but have become endangered as a result of introduced predators. The unique lizards have a long life span and in some cases can live up to 150 years-old. This long lifespan means that Tuataras require a consistent level of funding to continue care, research and develop effective breeding programmes.

The conservation programme aims to give the Tuatara the best possible chance of survival for generations to come and provides learning opportunities for visitors.

The zoo recently celebrated its 100th anniversary of raising awareness of the native Tuatara and in 2012 successfully bred and raised five new born Tuataras.