Last week, Dame Cindy and Dr Davies continued their programme of events in West Auckland – an area of New Zealand close to Her Excellency's heart.
On Tuesday morning, Dame Cindy and Dr Davies visited Blanket Base – the headquarters for the remarkable West Auckland charity, Give a Kid a Blanket. GaKaB’s mission is to relieve the effects of poverty and offer practical help to those in need through gifting objects of warmth and comfort – including blankets, duvets, bedding, clothing, and self-care essentials. Over the past year, GaKaB has helped more than 8,000 members of their community. The charity works with police, public health nurses, community and social workers, and community service agencies who make requests for resources and collect them from Blanket Base.
For more information on Give a Kid a Blanket, its powerful work, and opportunities to contribute, please visit: https://giveakidablanket.co.nz.
Dame Cindy and Dr Davies then visited BirdCare Aotearoa – a charity dedicated to providing care and rehabilitation to sick, injured, and orphaned wild birds. During their visit, Their Excellencies met a ruru, kākā, and kererū – each delivered to the centre by a concerned member of the community, and in different stages of their recovery. Dame Cindy also acknowledged some of the longest-serving members of the BirdCare volunteering family.
To find out more about the important work of BirdCare and its committed team of staff and volunteers – including how you can help – please visit: https://birdcareaotearoa.org.nz.
Dame Cindy and Dr Davies started their Wednesday morning with a very special visit to He Wero School for Young Parents at Henderson High School. He Wero supports parents under the age of 18 to complete their secondary education – both across core subjects, as well as more specialist subjects taught online or within the main school. Dame Cindy and Dr Davies spent time with some of the mothers and their babies – and heard about their special interests and aspirations for the future. They also took part in a mindfulness and yoga class run by the inspiring Kindness Institute.
Following their time at He Wero, Their Excellencies went next door to the Barnardos Early Learning Centre, where babies born to the mothers in He Wero are given priority enrolment – and where those young parents and children are supported in spending time together throughout the course of their school day and learning.
Dame Cindy then visited Bellyful West Auckland, to take part in one of their monthly 'Cookathons'. Bellyful is a charitable organisation that cooks and delivers meals to whānau with newborn babies and young children in need of support. Once a month, volunteers come together to make delicious and nutritious meals which are then stored and distributed throughout the community. Yesterday, Dame Cindy was on lasagne construction, macaroni dolloping, and soup whizzing duties – helping to make some of the 146 meals produced in total during the Cookathon.
You can find out more about Bellyful's wonderful work around the country, and how you can become involved, here: https://bellyful.org.nz/.
Dame Cindy and Dr Davies made a trip to Matipo Primary School on Thursday morning, where they were greeted with a beautiful pōwhiri by students and teachers. Matipo Primary School teaches students years 1-6, with the vision: ‘Mā te manaaki e tipu ai ngā kākano, hei te rākau teitei – We nurture the seed so the tree will grow strong’. A key feature of the school is Te Puawaitanga o Te Wairua – a Māori Enrichment Unit, providing opportunities for all children to be immersed in a kaupapa Māori framework underpinned by tikanga Māori. Dame Cindy was given a special tour of the school with students, and stopped in to read a story with one of the classes.
Finally, on Friday morning, Dame Cindy and Dr Davies visited Blind Low Vision NZ's guide dog breeding and training centre in Manurewa. This extraordinary facility is one of only two in the world to offer specialised training for guide dogs and their handlers in one place.
The centre includes a series of realistically modelled public spaces – such as pedestrian crossings, train carriages, and shopping malls – allowing dogs and their handlers to gain confidence moving through the kinds of environments they're likely to encounter in day-to-day life. These spaces also incorporate traffic and crowd noises, as well as potentially distracting smells, to simulate the real world as closely as possible.
Each year, Blind Low Vision NZ also breeds around 100 potential guide dogs, of which around 40 will graduate from the training programme – the rest adopted as beloved pets. Their Excellencies finished their visit meeting some of the newest litter, who were enjoying a late morning play.
You can find out more about this facility and the work of Blind Low Vision NZ here: https://blindlowvision.org.nz/