Hundreds of financially disadvantaged children will have warm and dry feet this winter, thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation to the KidsCan Shoes for Kids programme.

The $5,000 grant was one of 12 grants totalling over $78,000 handed out by the Mazda Foundation in its latest funding round.

Carl Sunderland, KidsCan Charitable Trust spokesperson said the organisation was extremely grateful for further support from the Mazda Foundation, which supported its Raincoats for Kids programme in 2007.

“The Shoes for Kids programme provides underprivileged children with shoes, a necessity which is often taken for granted. An alarming number of children around New Zealand attend school in winter with no shoes, or with shoes that are in an appalling condition.

“This grant will provide quality footwear and two pairs of socks to 250 underprivileged children – keeping their little feet warm and dry throughout winter, and boosting their self-esteem.”

The Mazda Foundation is helping young performers pursue their dreams through its ongoing support of the Performing Arts Competition Association of New Zealand (PACANZ).

The $24,000 grant will provide 12 tuition scholarships for the winners and finalists of the National Young Performer Awards. This is the third consecutive year the Mazda Foundation has funded PACANZ, and it brings the total number of tuition scholarships it has funded to 36.

The National Young Performer Awards recognise the crème-de-la-crème of New Zealand’s young performing artists. They offer competitors the opportunity to measure themselves against their peers at a national level and vie for financial assistance to further their chosen art. The disciplines of Ballet, Tap, Pianoforte, Vocal, Modern Dance, Highland and National Dance, Orchestral Instrument and Speech and Drama are alternated each year.

Annette Johnstone, PACANZ Executive Officer, said the Mazda Foundation tuition scholarships provide the financial support New Zealand’s young performers need to further their careers.

Violinist Amalia Hall, who won the Instrumental category in last year’s awards, used her Mazda Foundation tuition scholarship to attend auditions for six music schools in the US in February. She has since been accepted into the most prestigious, the Curtis Institute, and will commence her studies there this year along with some of the world’s most talented musicians.

The 2008 National Young Performer of the Year Awards will be held in October in Tauranga and will consist of Ballet, Tap, Pianoforte and Vocal. The winner and two finalists in each category will each receive a Mazda Foundation tuition scholarship.

Young people in the far North with a passion for music are being given the chance to pursue their talents thanks to a committed group of volunteers and with the help of a Mazda Foundation grant for equipment.

The Whangaroa Community Music Group has been set up to foster the musical talents and ambitions of youth in the area. It has just been given an extra boost thanks to a grant of $6,500 from the Mazda Foundation to purchase a professional drum kit and PA system.

Group volunteer, Sharyn van Heerden, a teacher from the decile two Whangaroa College, says there are so many talented young musicians in the area who wouldn’t get the chance to play music if it wasn’t for the Community Music Group.

“Because the college doesn’t offer a music programme the after-school Music Group is a great way to develop their talents. There are a number of kids here who are really musical and talented and the programme is really rewarding for them. Some of them may struggle academically but when it comes to music, they discover they have a gift and the increase to their self-confidence has been fantastic. One of the students last year has gone on to study a Bachelor of Music at Otago University and this year at least two students are looking to do further study in music or performing arts.”

Sharyn says the feedback from parents and the wider community has also been really positive.

“We hear from families who have been saying ‘finally the kids have found something they enjoy, something they are passionate about’ and the kids have been asking for keyboards instead of Playstations! We’ve also noticed that the positive effects of the programme are permeating other aspects of their lives. For example, feedback from the school and local literacy provider in terms of attitude to school work has been great; similarly they are demonstrating really great teamwork skills.”

Young Wellingtonians now have a comfortable place to be, thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation.

Mazda Foundation funding of $8,999 upgraded the Wellington Boys’ and Girls’ Institute (BGI) broken furniture, which had exposed springs and broken legs for a new lounge and a brand new laptop.

The BGI’s Open Door Service chill out zone has four new couches, a coffee table and rugs and cushions and is now a functional area to hold meetings. “For the past 15 years we’ve been replacing second-hand furniture with more second-hand stuff every year,” says BGI youth worker Ani Prasad. “When adults come together for a meeting we don’t expect them to sit on couches propped up with concrete bricks – young people are important too. We’ve been able to create a special space which gives our young people a sense of pride.”

The laptop will be used as a communal computer for programme meetings and student projects and in turn will lighten the load on youth workers’ PCs.

Established in 1883, BGI provides holistic youth development for 9 to 25-year-olds through a raft of services including mentoring, events, employment training, dance and arts programmes, counselling and parenting courses.

Four special needs children from One Tree Point School, a remote Northland coastal school, will be able to continue to benefit from the therapy that horse riding provides them, thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation.

Mazda Foundation funding to the tune of $1973.16 has enabled the students to continue the Riding for the Disabled programme each Monday for a half hour session.

The Riding for the Disabled programme provides the children, with disabilities ranging from Down Syndrome, Autism and Global Delay, with an individually planned programme of riding therapy, recreation and education, based on the needs of each child.

Gemma Jackson, One Tree Point School’s Special Needs teacher, said the children are already demonstrating positive benefits having attended for term one, and she is very keen for the programme to continue for the rest of the year.

“It is a one hour round journey to get there and back and this grant has covered the cost of petrol and mileage to the course for the rest of the year.”

“One boy with autism, who doesn’t like animals, immediately formed a special bond with his horse. He went straight up to him and tickled his ears. It was so heart-warming to watch.

“Their self-confidence has improved enormously,” said Gemma. “They are now even riding unaccompanied at times, having started just grooming and walking with the horses. This programme has really given these students the chance to shine and show responsibility for something.”

A further 12 talented young performers will be able to follow their dreams thanks to the Mazda Foundation’s generous support of the Performing Arts Association of New Zealand (PACANZ) for the second year running.

Following a grant of $18,000 in 2006, the Mazda Foundation awarded the organisation a further $24,000 in 2007. This has been translated into $24,000 worth of tuition grants given to first, second and third place performers.

Each recipient determines the exact purpose for the scholarship suitable to his or her situation, within the parameters of tuition. Last year the scholarships were used toward the completion of training in New Zealand and overseas, post-graduate courses, special schools and master classes.

The awards bring together the creme-de-la- creme of young performers and are an opportunity for growth and development of the individual as they hone performance skills and technical prowess.

Through a rigorous competition and assessment process the awards identify 12 young people each year who have the skills, talent and motivation to move onto a professional career in their chosen art form. The disciplines of Ballet, Tap, Pianoforte, Vocal, Modern Dance, Highland and National Dance, Orchestral Instrument and Speech and Drama are alternated each year.

Annette Johnston of PACANZ says so many organisations face challenges trying to secure funding. “Like many others, our organisation doesn’t fit within the parameters of other funding bodies which can be so prescriptive in terms of what they support. For example, Creative New Zealand aren’t interested because we deal with amateurs.

“To find a Foundation like the Mazda Foundation which is open-minded and wider-seeing has been a delight and thanks to them it has given 24 talented young performers enormous opportunities they would never have had to pursue a career in the performing arts.”

A second Mazda Foundation grant of $8,000 is helping to monitor and protect New Zealand’s Monarch Butterfly and educate New Zealanders about their importance to the environment.

The first grant in 2006 enabled the Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust to carry out a much-needed national research project, including a butterfly monitoring and tagging programme – to find out whether butterfly populations in New Zealand are declining as suspected – and looking at what can be done to reverse any adverse impact.

Butterflies as pollinators are key indicators of the health of the environment. However, indigenous butterflies appear to be disappearing, hence the need to make more New Zealanders aware of them and their threats.

The 2007 grant helped the Trust take up a key opportunity to educate some 60,000+ gardeners about the need to protect butterflies, wild spaces and insect life.

The exhibit at the 2007 Ellerslie International Flower Show featured live changes from Monarch caterpillars, to pupae into butterflies. There were a range of colour nectar plants for all butterflies, artwork, audiovisual displays and daily releases of Monarch butterflies in the Ellerslie gardens. The stand proved very popular with both guests and judges – receiving a bronze award.

Mt Wellington children will have fresh fruit to eat at school – with help from a Mazda Foundation grant. The grant of $5,000 will go towards the Maungarei Community Christian Trust’s Food For Thought programme which distributes fresh fruit to low decile schools in the Mt Wellington area.

Tracy Winther of the Maungarei Community Christian Trust says a week’s worth of fruit is delivered to Bailey Road, Sylvia Park Primary School and Panmure District School on Monday mornings and given to pupils three times a week.

“There are many needy children within the Mt Wellington catchment that go to school hungry. It is a proven fact that children who have poor diets are low in vitamins and have increased learning difficulties and behavioural problems.”

Before morning tea, classes stop what they are doing and as a group sit and eat their fruit. “This has become a very special part of the day and good relationship building time for each class,” says Tracy.

The extra numbers of young surf life savers at Fitzroy this year will get the equipment they need, thanks to funding from the Mazda Foundation. A grant of $2,375 will pay for new rescue tubes, boogie boards and nipper boards needed to train the club’s junior section.

Fitzroy Surf Life Saving Club co-ordinator Leigh Laurence says the number of junior members has increased from 50 members to 80 members over the last season, so there was a desperate need for extra equipment to teach the young lifeguards essential skills so they can help keep the beaches safe.

Kids at Clinton Playcentre got an early Christmas present, when they turned up and saw the Kindy’s new playhouse – bought with a grant from the Mazda Foundation.

The grant of $1,663.99 paid for the wooden kit-set play house to be built in the kindergarten’s new play ground. The play house features include a slatted floor, safety-glazed windows, a magnetic door catch, a verandah, and panoramic views out to the community award winning play area.