A Letter from the General Manager
Hello All,
Much of my time this year has been spent settling into my new role with this beautiful Trust. I am incredibly fortunate to have been given this opportunity, and I am loving every learning and challenge!
Viv James, founder and previous General Manager of Race4Life, has always spoken of the magic of this work. Magic happens when hope, laughter, and beautiful memories are created in the lives of people on the stage of their journey that can be devoid of those quality of life giving things.
If magic needs to be seen to be believed, I can confidently say Viv, I now also believe!
Magic also comes from the positive experience of giving whether that be of time or financial support. The power of wholehearted giving to promote happiness and human connection is immense. Amongst the many acts of giving we see, the support of our hosts in the tourism and hospitality sectors is overwhelming. Hit hard by the pandemic, these incredible wish partners are still saying yes to being part of the magic. I encourage you to read the wish stories on our webpage and on Facebook where we acknowledge those that loyally support our wish service.
Close to my heart as a motorsport enthusiast is the work we do as the chosen charity of the Ultimate Rally Group who run the fabulous Targa events. I used to take time off work to attend these events as a Race4Life volunteer, so still cannot believe my luck that attending is now part of my day job! Targa is an important part of our fundraising program, and COVID related event cancellations have added to our financial pressures. It was therefore with much gratitude that URG forged ahead with the recent Bambina rally. The team raised $10,000 thanks to the generosity of the Targa family, and we look forward with more certainty to the return of fundraising opportunities that this event has signalled.
The focus of the next few months is the sustainability of Race4Life and working hard to honour the wishes of the courageous New Zealanders who have chosen hope at a difficult time. We are slowly catching up on wishes delayed by the pandemic, and are reopening our wish service to new applications.
Last year’s hurdle of keeping the Trust alive has been cleared but we face many more. With our generous funding partners having to divide limited funds across many worthy organisations also hit extremely hard by the pandemic, and a lack of fundraising during lockdowns, we are still very much in need of support. If you can help, please use the GiveaLittle link below.
Thank you to you all for also believing.
Helen Day – General Manager
Story of Elva – A wish one year in the making!
The delightful 73 years young Elva Pick, has a diagnosis of kyphoscoliosis which has resulted in respiratory failure. 
Elva’s wish was to experience some of her life’s loves, our native kiwi, vintage cars, and country music! So, with this exciting brief, we set about creating an adventure that would tick the boxes and get this lockdown delayed wish underway.
Elva has always wanted to get up close and personal with kiwi, and we were extremely fortunate to get Bev Wilkinson from Save the Kiwi, an organisation that works to reverse the decline of kiwi, on board to make this part of Elva’s wish a reality.
Elva’s trip from her hometown of Leigh was made possible by her niece Karen, who drove her beloved aunt to Napier, with a great stopover in Taupo on the way. The travellers enjoyed beautiful meals including meals they prepared themselves with the compliments of Foodstuffs North Island and the fabulous Napier Lone Star and Portofino restaurants. They were treated to some wonderful hospitality at The Anchorage Taupo and Deco City Motor Lodge Napier and really got the most out of their uniquely special experiences.
Hawkes Bay VCC Club Captain Paul Anderson warmly welcomed Elva and Karen to their club meet. They mixed and mingled with likeminded car enthusiasts and were given the opportunity to inspect a great display of incredible vintage cars. Of course, the experience would not be complete without a drive in one of these majestic vehicles. So, to make this a day to remember, club member Trevor Charman took Elva for a drive in a 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton! We are not sure if any speed limits were broken!!
The day did not finish there, with Elva’s kiwi experience still to go. The lovely Bev spent a few hours with Elva and introduced her to the Save the Kiwi creche and generously shared her knowledge of our feathery national icon.
Last but not least, Elva’s love of country music wraps up her wish. Very soon she will be tapping her foot to songs on the signed and generously donated CD by 2020 Southland entertainer of the Year, New Zealand Country, and Western singer Arun O’Connor!
Thanks to each and every one of the generous people and businesses whose time and generosity helped turn Elva’s wish into a reality.
GO Rentals literally GO the extra mile!
Perhaps because lockdowns have kept us isolated and prevented us from exploring New Zealand, a common theme of the wish
requests that we are seeing is one of getting away from home and experiencing New Zealand.
To help me understand all aspects of the work we do, I took up the challenge of coordinating a wish. To pick up from my comments about the magic of giving, particularly in COVID hit times, what happened next reinforced that we have so many awesome individuals and businesses that loyally support our work because they believe it makes a difference to the lives of the people we work with.
The business that I went to for help with this particular wish was GO Rentals. A family owned and operated business that has at its core, a beautiful heart. My wish involved a large whanau that needed a vehicle to move 12 people from Auckland to Whanganui, and they needed it two days after I requested it. Within 3 hours and without hesitation, a donated rental van was booked and the arrangements made. WOW.
Receiving this immediate answer to a call for support, was not a sign of a promising career in wish coordination. It was simply one of many examples of the kindness and generosity that we are privileged to witness every day.
Thank you GO Rentals. We are full of gratitude for your part in creating magic with us for over three years on an incredible 16 wishes. We love what you do!
Targa May 2022
Hot on the heels of the hugely successful and fun 2 day Targa Bambina rally that took to the roads in March, we are already full on planning the bigger Central North island 5 day event scheduled in May. A great Race4Life team will attend the rally and we will sell raffle tickets offering the lucky winner a fantastic Hawke’s Bay luxury weekend away and car window donation stickers. We are also getting famous for firing up the barbie for our gold coin donation sausage sizzles that we hold at the driver’s service stops and our great auction prizes, kindly donated this time by Highlands Motorsport Park.
2022 Hampton Downs Track Day – New date announcement!
Collage of Wishes – Some images of our beautiful work!
Donate to our cause!
Race4Life is very much focused on granting as many wishes as we can with our available funds and hope to start rebuilding our wish service to pre COVID-19 levels. We have people on our waiting list that applied for their wish last year in lockdown and at the beginning of the year we made the hard decision to put a temporary holt on accepting new wish applications.
While we look to new and sustainable ways to fundraise and continue to apply for grants, we would love your help. Every little bit helps!
If you can help, please do by clicking the button below.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Click HERE to donate now.
No Comments