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February 2014 Community newsletter

Connect with us:

Web: www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org.nz/local/nelson

Ph: 03-545-9864

Email: nelson@bigbrothersbigsisters.org.nz

Information evening on

being a mentor

Come and hear what it's like!

Are you interested in mentoring a young person or

know someone who might be interested?

Then come along to this information evening to find

out what it's like being a volunteer mentor with Big

Brothers Big Sisters of Nelson.

There will be an opportunity to hear mentors talk

about their experiences, and chat with mentors and

Big Brothers Big Sisters staff. Drinks and nibbles

provided. Feel free to bring a friend and let others

know about this event. Download a poster here.

When: Wednesday February 26, 7pm

Where: Community meeting room, Nick Smith's

offices, corner of Quarantine and Waimea Rds,

Nelson. View map here.

We'd also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of...

News

Port Nelson Open Day

Port Nelson, one of our sponsors, will be holding a

public open day on March 9 and has generously

offered to donate the proceeds from donations

collected to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nelson. For

more information visit www.portnelson.co.nz We'll

also be benefiting from Port Nelson's charity golf

tournament later in the year.

Like us on Facebook

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Looking ahead to 2014

We have started the year well, with 115 young

people matched or soon to be matched with

mentors. Some of these young people will be

mentored by senior school students through our

School-based Teen Programme, which kicks off

this term.

However, we still have a waiting list of more than

50 children waiting for mentors, which shows a

big need for our mentoring programme. So one of

our aims this year is to look at how we can

increase our funding to meet that need. With our

current staffing levels we are close to capacity.

I'm thrilled with the support we're receiving from

individuals and organisations in our community

and impressed with the number of people who

are positive about the programme and willing to

help in different ways. We're currently

establishing a fundraising group, to organise our

key fundraising events, so if this sounds like you

or you know someone who might be interested,

please get in touch.

Hopefully summer will stay with us for a while

now so we can enjoy the long days and light

evenings – a great time to get out and about and

connect with others! May 2014 be a wonderful

year for all of us!

Ka Kite

Rachel Rae

Programme Director

More news

Vote for us at Z Rutherford in March

We're delighted to have been chosen as a charity to

benefit from Z's Good in the Hood fundraising

initiative. We'll receive a share of funding - how much

we receive depends on how many votes we get from

customers at the Z Rutherford petrol station in Nelson

during March. So support us by voting! You can also

vote for us in an online token hunt. Find out more at

Good in the Hood.

Nelson Mail profiles spark interest

Thanks to the Nelson Mail for creating and running a

series of profiles on some of our mentors over

summer. The profiles were very eye-catching and we

received a lot of positive feedback about them. By all

accounts they got people thinking about mentoring a

young person, which was the aim.

Breakfast BBQ a hit with young people

There were a few drenched kids by the end of our

BBQ breakfast in January, as the top photo shows.

Thanks to Nelson firefighters for coming along and

being such good sports! You can see more photos on

our Facebook page and website.

2014 is shaping up to

be a great year for Big

Brothers Big Sisters of

Nelson!

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Upcoming events

February 26: Information evening

See article on the front page. 7pm at the

community meeting room, Nick Smith's offices,

corner of Quarantine and Waimea Rds.

March 9: Port Nelson open day

Come along to Port Nelson’s open day to get an

inside look at the port facilities and operations.

Family-friendly event, entry by gold coin donation

and the proceeds raised will go to Big Brothers Big

Sisters of Nelson as Port Nelson is a sponsor of

ours. For more information visit Port Nelson’s

website www.portnelson.co.nz

March 15: Robertson's Trolley Derby

An action-packed day of trolley-racing, featuring all

sorts of weird, wonderful and speedy trolleys. Big

Brothers Big Sisters of Nelson is a chosen charity for

this iconic Nelson event, so come along and enjoy

the fun! We'll also be looking for volunteers to help

sizzle sausages and sell programmes, so if you can

help for a couple of hours please get in touch. The

derby runs from 10am to 4pm in upper

Collingwood St. For more information visit

www.nelsontrolleyclub.co.nz

For more information on events go to the events

calendar on our website:

www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org.nz/local/nelson/

events

Thanks to our sponsors and funders...

A big thanks for the donations we've recently

received:

Rotary Club of Nelson - $1000

Soroptimist International Nelson - $250

RSA Women's Division - $40

Dawson & Associates - $200

Pelorus Trust - $500

We'd also like to acknowledge the ongoing support

of...

Platinum supporters

Gold supporters

Silver supporters

Bronze supporters

Other supporters

Harvey World Travel (Richmond)

Rollos Locksmiths

Edgewood Trust