Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand Annual Report 2011

2011 ANNUAL REPORT

Big Brothers Big Sistersof New Zealand

ONE ADULT. ONE CHILD.MEASURABLE RESULTS.

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During 2011 volunteers ranging in age from 16 to 80 years got alongside 619 young people in one of the 14 Big Brothers Big Sisters programmes across New Zealand and supported them through mentoring relationships.

And we know that these match relationships make a positive impact in the lives of the young people who are sup-ported by a Big Brother or Big Sister. Research proves that children enrolled in Big Brothers Big Sisters’ programmes are more likely to improve in school and in their relationships with family and friends, and less likely to skip school or use illegal drugs or alcohol.

Our programmes encourage children to set higher goals for achievement at high school and university, improve their confidence in themselves, and help them have better, stronger relationships with their families.

One adult volunteer mentor, getting alongside one child, makes an extraordinary difference in the life of that child.

We envision a day when every child isempowered to have big hopes and big

dreams to achieve their potential

TELLING OUR STORY

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2011 ended with the confirmed establishment of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Auckland. This followed an intense and committed effort by those involved in supporting the “Boot camp” which was completed in conjunction with sponsor Les Mills International.

I started with this because to me it sums up the principle of telling our story. Big Brothers Big Sisters is made up of people at all levels, Boards, staff, volunteers and donors, who together commit themselves to improving the lives of young people in a direct or indirect way. Our story demonstrates that it does not matter in what way you contribute the main thing is that people do.

Over the past 8 years this dedicated approach has resulted in considerable growth both in terms of sites and numbers matched and is something that everyone involved should be immensely proud of.

The year included tragedies such as Pike River which severally impacted on the communities on the West Coast where we have 3 sites. Also the Earthquakes of September and February with the latter claiming over 180 lives including volunteer Janet Meller from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Christchurch. Our thoughts go out to Janet’s family and all those impacted by these events.

The ongoing relationship between Police and a number of the Big Brothers Big Sisters sites must be highlighted in these tough economic times. With the charity dollar getting tight it is nice to know Police support a number of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ em-ployees with salaries and premises significantly reducing costs for that site.

Our conference this year held in Hamilton once again provided opportunities for members to learn and network so that they can take the latest in best practice back to there work place to ultimately benefit the end user. Thank you very much Hamilton for hosting this important event.

To Dave Marshall, who works away as our operational person supporting those in the regions, thanks again for your commitment to Big Brothers Big Sisters, I know it is much more than a job to you. To Board Members Sean, Paul and Shane thank you for your support and hard work in what has been an amazing year.

Finally to those in the regions who directly improve the lives of our young people on a daily basis, thank you. You each work under the radar not motivated by any self gratification rather only the desire to see young people be the best that they can be.

I look forward to seeing Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand continue to grow over the next 12 months.

Ross LienertChairpersonBig Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

NB: This annual report is for the calendar year 2011 however the financial accounts are for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2011.

THE START OF SOMETHING BIG‘‘You get to be a role model to a young person – what a privilege.’’ (Quote from a Big Brother)

We often hear our mentors, the Big Brothers and Big Sisters telling us they get far more out of the mentoring relationship than the young person does. I am constantly impressed by the commitment and generosity of our volunteers as they meet and have fun each week with the children in our programmes. The smiles on the faces of the children and young people and the match stories are incredibly heart-warming.

2011 was a great year for Big Brothers Big Sisters. It was another year of growth as we served 14% more young people than the previous year. A significant milestone was being able to finally establish a programme in Auckland. We know that this will not only contribute to continued growth of our organisation but will bring this world-leading service to the children and young people who need it most in New Zealand’s largest city.

Our development into Auckland was given a massive boost by Les Mills who ran a charity Bootcamp to raise funds for the pro-gramme. In support of the event Paula Bennett, Minister for Social Development, Employment and Youth Affairs, commented, “I’ve had the privilege of seeing Big Brothers Big Sisters in action first hand and am fully supportive of bringing this much-needed charity to our country’s biggest city. I encourage all New Zealanders to get behind BIG BOOTCAMP to help make a difference for Kiwi kids.”

Alongside success and growth, the year was a tough one for our Christchurch and North Canterbury branches with so many staff, volunteers, board, children affected by the on-going earthquake impact. And yet, in the midst of this crisis, the programmes continued to grow and the mentoring relationships flourished. Mentors and staff did an impressive job and kids’ lives are better as a result.

Big Brothers Big Sisters has achieved significant results because our volunteers, donors, community and corporate partners share in our continued success! Over the past eight years our organisation has come a long way and this graph clearly demonstrates the fantastic growth across the country.

In both Big and Little ways, you are helping to change the lives of our youth for the better…forever.

Sincerely

Dave MarshallNational Director 0

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2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Matches Served

Christchurch

Manawatu

Taranaki

Taupō

Eastern BOP

Hawke's Bay

Hamilton

Nth. Canterbury

Westland

Grey District

Buller

Dannevirke

Nelson

VISION

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Quality mentoring relationships for all young people in New Zealand.

MISSIONTo make a positive difference in the lives of youth through

professionally supported mentoring relationships.

REGIONAL SNAPSHOTS

NELSON

BULLER

GREY DISTRICT

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Matches Served : 36During the year Big Brothers Big Sisters of Buller had the opportunity to do some exciting activities with generous fund-ing from the ANZ. These included travelling to Hanmer Springs to enjoy the Hot Pools and A-Maze-Golf, and another highlight was joining with the Westland programme for a McDonald’s lunch and Swim at Greymouth Aquatic Centre.At our Christmas breakup we had the pleasure of congratulating three of our matches who had been matched for four years and one match who had reached five years. These are wonderful achievements!

Matches Served : 10It’s been a tough year for the branch in Grey District. The Pike River tragedy has been such a huge issue for the com-munity and as a result it has been difficult for volunteer recruitment and not-for-profit organisations. Alongside these significant challenges for the community, some changes in staffing have resulted in the programme struggling to make any real growth. 2012 will be a time for regrouping and rebuilding the programme in Grey.

Matches Served : 1442011 was an exceptionally busy year for the Nelson programme with a 40% growth in the number of ‘matches’ served compared to 2010. The team also welcomed a new office administrator, which has added real value and much needed support for everyone. The funding base has also diversified with the welcome addition of SBS Bank as a Gold sponsor. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nelson remains extremely grateful to the Tasman Police District for their continued support of the programme and to our other platinum sponsors the Canterbury Community Trust the New Zealand Lotteries Board.

WESTLAND

NORTH CANTERBURY

HAMILTON

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Matches Served : 44Coordinator Natalie Smith writes: “2011 has been a pretty wild ride for Big Brothers Big Sisters North Canterbury with many of our mentors and the young people we mentor impacted by the February 22 earthquake and on-going aftershocks. Our priority has been supporting our active matches, making new matches and securing a more permanent office space after the Sept earthquake put us out of our town hall offices. I believe we have met those priorities and more!Although 2011 has had its challenges we have enjoyed a number of highlights. We moved into our new permanent premises at the War Memorial Hall. Our Boys and Girls camps were each very successful. Our annual mid-winter Christmas party for all our mentors and their partners was again a great success.”

Matches Served : 22Since the first match was made in 2005 regular evaluations on the programme based in Hokitika have had nothing but praise for the work that Big Brothers Big Sisters is doing and the difference it has made in vulnerable young lives. An example of this impact is the relationship between Big Brother Mark and Little Brother Caleb who have been matched for 6 years with 240 documented outings. These two are still meeting weekly and are friends for life. Caleb (who has been in foster care since he was 2 years old) was recently offered an apprenticeship at a local business after working there after school part time.Receiving a grant from the Ministry of Social Development Community Response Fund was a highlight for the year.

Matches Served : 592011 was yet another successful year for Big Brothers Big Sisters Hamilton with 23 new matches made.We celebrated seven 1 year anniversaries; three 2 year anniversaries and out of the 23 matches we did make in 2011, 17 of them are still to this day going strong.Hosting the 2011 BBBSNZ conference was also a huge privilege for us. This was an opportunity to show what Hamilton has to offer. 2011 was a very productive year for Hamilton, working collaboratively with other agencies we continue to make a difference in our community by working with our young people and their whanau.

AUCKLANDA significant milestone for our national organisation in 2011 was the establishment of a Big Brothers Big Sisters branch in Auckland. The National Office has been working towards this outcome for several years and was given a major boost with the help of the Les Mills fourth annual charity bootcamp, which raised $70,000 to launch the programme.The wonderful support from Les Mills meant that we were finally able to appoint a coordinator and begin matching young people with mentors. It’s the start of something BIG for Auckland!

TARANAKI

HAWKE’S BAY

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TAUPO

Matches Served : 133Big Brothers Big Sisters Taranaki has been fortunate to have AWE Ltd and the Tui joint venture partners as principal sponsor for the last five years. Together with TSB Community Trust, NZ Lotteries, Taranaki Electricity Trust, MSD CRF and other grants have contributed to ensuring we maintain our capability of best practice with our mentors for the benefit of our young people. Highlights for Taranaki Naki in 2011 include being able to support 15 young children with swimming lessons & running three parenting courses catering for our mothers. The feedback for both initia-tives has been extremely positive. We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the number of volunteers that contact us wishing to become mentors having heard about the programme. The future for this programme with developing partnerships in the community is beginning to show. We have built a foundation of being a creditable organisation (portion of which lies with Dave and the processes he has put in place) and we look forward to other doors opening. Exciting times lie ahead in the Naki for 2012.

Matches Served : 20Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hawke’s Bay has maintained longevity in a number of matches, with three and four year match milestones being celebrated during 2011. It is inspiring to see these relationships grow over time and witness the personal development of all concerned, including the family of the young person! Our mentors attended the Christmas Party hosted by Napier Mayor, Barbara Arnott, to acknowledge community volunteers. Mrs Arnott made special mention of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hawke’s Bay and the support our mentors give to vulnerable young people in the Napier and wider Hawke’s Bay Community. When ‘Big Brother’, Bob (62 years) told his Little Brother Izaiah (10 years) at our “Splash Planet” event that he thought he was too old to go on the Bumper Boats, Izaiah says, “What would you like to go on, I’ll help you”.

Matches Served : 14Taupo, the Heart of the North Island. Home to the Rainbow Trout, Central North Islands Major Ski Fields, the largest lake in NZ, Huka Falls, Ironman, The Great Lake Cycle Challenge, the Lake Taupo Taniwha and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taupo held its first, hugely successful Beach Dig Fundraiser with a pool of over $11k worth of prizes, donated locally and nationally. We raised $4,500 with over 1500 people attending! Thank you to the fol-lowing Sponsors, Rotary club of Taupo Moana, Mediaworks, Sky City, Kambrook Nz and Bayview Wairakei Resort. Thanks for sharing our passion and kaupapa “To guide young people by promoting positive growth and development through the use of adults as mentors”. To the Trustee’s and the Steering Group, thank you for igniting the flame and keeping it alive!

TAMAKI NUI A RUAMatches Served : 6

The rural town of Dannevirke is where our first ever Big Brothers Big Sisters match was made in New Zealand. While there were just a handful of matches operating during the year, the match stories are still as moving as any-where else in the world. And, the needs are much the same as any other small town in the country. It is hoped that in the year to come more volunteers can be found to match with children and young people who need a Big Brother or Big Sister.

MANAWATUMatches Served : 27Manawatu Big Brothers Big Sisters has had a great year. With a new coordinator and caseworker our main prior-ity for 2011 was to raise our profile within the Manawatu and make more matches. We have increased the match number from 7 to 21. We held an information evening for local businesses and organisations to raise awareness of what we are trying to achieve. We completed an advertising campaign by producing posters and several newspa-per articles which along with the information hour has given Big Brothers Big Sisters of Manawatu a higher degree of recognition about our programme and the important work our mentors do for children and young people in their community.

CHRISTCHURCHMatches Served : 101While the tragic events of February 22 brought sadness and new challenges to our volunteers and children, it also opened up opportunities. The staff team were able to contact and visit all the families of the children and provide whatever support they could. In response to the impact of the quakes, a new community based programme was set up to mentor children who were most affected. With significant contributions from the Vodafone Foundation, the Hil-ton Foundation and Westpac Community Care, mentors have got alongside children with sleeping issues, emotional turmoil, soiling and who have many of their entertainment options closed for repair or demolition. A group of 40 mentors, staff, children and their families were sponsored by UBS on a fantastic 3 day “Quake Break” to Auckland during World Cup Final Week.

EASTERN BAY OF PLENTYMatches Served : 3As a relatively new branch of Big Brothers Big Sisters its early days for the programme development in Eastern Bay of Plenty. With just one or two matches so far the Coordinator there, Karen Morunga says, “ a highlight for me was visiting a young girl, the second oldest of 6 siblings, she tells me about her big sister and how really cool she is. Her little face would light up and sparkle as she talked about her mentor. She just wouldn’t stop talking about her”. Our aim is to see many more of these awesome mentoring relationships established in this area.

PROGRAMMES

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Community-Based MentoringAcross New Zealand the average time each Community Based match lasted in 2011 was 2 years.Independent research has shown that a Little Brother or Little Sister who is matched with a Mentor for one year or more is more likely to succeed in school, attend tertiary education, and to show more respect to adults. In our long-standing community-based programme Little Brothers and Sisters share a variety of social activities in a broad range of settings. Spending time with their Mentor, or in our couple matches the young person is matched with a husband and wife team, makes a measurable impact.

Community-Based mentors vary in age, gender, professions and interests. One quality all mentors share is the desire to offer emotional support, guidance, consistency, and friendship. Through a mentor’s encouragement, a boy or girl can achieve his/her potential.

School-Based MentoringThe average match length for each School-Based Match = 15 monthsIt may sound obvious, but sometimes the best place to help a child realise their potential is at school. Kids enjoy having their Mentors meet with them there, whether it’s in the classroom or on the playground. And parents know what a positive impact it makes.

Some of the biggest supporters of our School-Based Mentoring programme are actually teachers. They see stu-dents come back from their time with their Big Brother or Big Sister filled with confidence, smiling big, ready to learn and eager to succeed.

The school-based programme operates in the Christchurch, Nelson, Taranaki and Westland Big Brothers Big Sis-ters branches. In 2011 there were 168 children and young people matched with mentors through School-Based Programmes with the average match length for matches in the School-Based programme being 15 months.

School -Based Teen mentoring programme.

An innovative school-based programme is also run by the Nelson Big Brothers Big Sisters Agency where students in year 12 and 13 are paired with children in local Primary Schools in a School-Based Teen Mentoring. Both High Schools and the Primary schools love the programme and there are wonderful benefits for the Little Brother or Little Sister being mentored as well as the Big Brothers and Big Sisters themselves.

MATCH STORIES

Jude & Sarah

With three daughters under four – one of them with special needs, Lynn Donald couldn’t keep up. “There wasn’t enough of me to go around.” Guilt over the lack of attention going to her middle daughter haunted her. She reached out to Big Brothers Big Sisters for then 12 year old Sarah. “She needed quality time, an adult outside the family she could talk to. Someone neutral she could confide in.”, says Lynn.

Sarah found that confidant in Big Sister Judith Spencer. “It was so cool having someone who wasn’t my own age, but wasn’t as old as my mum, someone in-between I could really talk to”, says Sarah, now 18.

Sarah’s quick to add, she and her mum get along great, and Lynn’s loving decision to bring in a Big Sister has provided Sarah with a lifelong friend in Judith.

The six years they’ve been matched have seen both women through big life changes. When Sarah was a young teen, she and Judith would go to movies. And stilt walk, and gallery hop. Now, they favour cafes, talking and just hanging out. As Sarah heads off to Victoria University, their relationship has, in Sarah’s words, “morphed into a real friendship. It’s like we grew up together. We’ll be friends for life. “

Sarah has excelled as a youth leader. She’s a member of the Nelson Youth Council. She’ll graduate soon with a Level 3 NCEA credential. At Victoria University, she’ll pursue a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a double major in marketing and media studies. She is, says Judith, a natural born leader. “She’s got a great future. She’s got real leadership skills. I can’t take credit for Sarah’s success. I feel kind of selfish, because, frankly, I’ve gotten so much out of it. It’s been great being a part of a young person’s life.”

Judith now works as the Administration Manager at World of Wearable Art. She and Sarah are looking forward to spending time together at WOW’s famous international Bancroft Estate WearbleArt Awards Show in Wellington this spring. You might say Big Brothers Big Sisters provided a perfect fit. Wow.

A Perfect Fit

Their mother’s sudden death stranded four Taranaki sisters. At 25 years old, eldest sister Kate was grief stricken and overwhelmed by the task of raising ten year old Jacqui and the three year old twins; Samantha and Felicity. Enter Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor, Helene.

This is Kate’s recollection of the life-changing connection.

“June 26, 2006 was a hard emotional time for our family. We found our mother dead in her bed. I was 25 years old, Jacqui was ten and the twins were three. It’s a morning that is forever etched in our minds. Mum adopted the twins and Jacqui in Samoa so I don’t know who their actual biologi-cal parents are. My biological Dad had long been out of our lives too.

The public health nurse referred us to Big Brothers Big Sisters, and then I had a meeting with Sara who was like an angel in our time of need. I had been having problems with Jacqui, we had been struggling with me raising her as a sister/friend not a parent as such and she had a lot of issues regarding the twins, blaming them for our mother’s death. I needed to take the parent role but Jacqui struggled not having her own one-on-one time like we used to do before mum passed away. When BBBS matched Jacqui with Helene, Jacqui initially resisted, but after getting to know Helene, Jacqui started looking forward to going out with her. It wasn’t long before a great friendship developed. Without Helene in our life, I believe life would have been so very different.

As Jacqui got older, things got even harder. She skipped school, lied to go to parties, and was abusive to the twins and me. Even though I knew this was happening I did my best to show patience even when I felt like giving up. I often talked with Sara (BBBS caseworker) and Helene during the worst times, Sara offered advice and of course lots of support, and suggested I got Jacqui involved with counselling with Dee again, while Helene spoke with Jacqui as a friend who really cared for her future and wellbeing. Helene really helped steer her towards being the young woman Jacqui is today. Jacqui really needed one-on-one with someone who wasn’t directly in the situation, who could offer support and hear her side and talk with her not as a kid but as a young adult, but was also a friend that she could have fun with. This was something I found hard as I was too close to the situation to be of any use to her. I had the twins to raise too, and they had their own issues. I felt split, so having someone for Jacqui was just wonderful. Having Helene in our family has made such a positive difference and even now at 16, Jacqui still loves going out with her, which they do most weekends.

I fully believe Jacqui would have been so much harder, would have been still misbehaving and verbally abusive to our family had she not met Helena. I’m not saying she is perfect, no teenager is, but we now talk to each other calmly (usually!) and she even realises when she says hurtful things to the twins and me, and understands every action has a conse-quence. She has even realised now that the people she used to hang out with didn’t care about their education, their wellbeing or hers and she now has good friends who respect her.

To me BBBS has helped our family get through some very hard times and for that I’m very grateful. This includes Sara going out her way to help when it wasn’t her job, so big thanks Sara. I now have the twins involved with BBBS and they have their own Big Sisters which both of them really love. I truly couldn’t imagine our life without this amazing organisation so thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone involved. You’re our family’s guardian angels.”

Helene & Jacqui

Sisters Helping Sisters

“You’re our family’s guardian angels”

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SPONSORS | PARTNERS

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Our Sponsors, Donors and Funders make mentoring happen. Thank you – you’ve helped us change the lives of over 600 young people in 2011 through the power of positive mentoring.

PRINCIPLE SPONSORS

Awe and Mitsui are the principal sponsors of Big Brothers Big Sisters, New Zealand. For three years our principal sponsors have made a significant contribution to support the growth and development of our national organisation. Together AWE and Mitsui contributed $150,000 towards the National office of Big Brothers Big Sisters.Alongside the National support of Big Brothers Big Sisters, AWE and Mitsui also sponsor the Taranaki programme.

Thank you AWE and Mitsui for recognising the value of New Zealand children and the vital role that mentoring plays in their successful futures.

The generous support of Les Mills through their charity BOOTCAMP enabled us to establish a new Big Brothers Big Sisters branch in Auckland. BIG BOOTCAMP kicked off on 31 October and ran until 25 November 2011. BIG BOOTCAMP participants trained three times a week, military-style with a twist, for four weeks in teams. Teams competed against each (and their own willpower) while raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters through individual online fundraising pages. The event raised a phenomenal $70,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters to start something in Auckland.Reece Zondag, CEO of Les Mills, says, “Les Mills Charity Bootcamp has a proven track record of raising significant funds for its charity of choice. The people who participate have an amazing time, raise money for a good cause and get fit in the process. We’re really exciting to have around 140 people participating this year including some well-known faces like Miriama Smith and Carol Hirschfield.”

Thank you to Les Mills and all those who got behind this brilliant event – it started something BIG in Auckland!

LOCAL SPONSORS AND PARTNERSEach local agency raises funds through grants from government and philanthropic trusts, individual donors, fundraising events, and corporate sponsorship. We want to say a huge thank you to all these wonderful organisations and individuals who have supported our local branches across the country – thanks for believing in our mission and the potential of New Zealand children.

FINANCESThis annual report is for the calendar year 2011, however the financial accounts are for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2011.

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

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