On the wintery morning of July 15, Huggies staff got together and warmed up with a hot cuppa, sausage rolls, dunkable bickies and other treats at their Dunk it for Plunket fundraiser in the Kimberly-Clark NZ offices. The team were able to give koha for obsolete stock, to then share with whānau and friends or use themselves – with lots of parents on the team, this has proven to be a really clever way to elevate their fundraiser after trialing it last year.
KCNZ staff donated to take home some great nappy product goodies!
As Whānau Āwhina Plunket’s long-time Key Strategic Partner, Huggies consistently shows up to support our mahi in creative and impactful ways like this. Last year, they jumped aboard the idea of Dunk it for Plunket quickly and with gusto – as only Huggies can! They pledged a $20k match fund, aptly named the ‘Double Dunk’, which successfully drove donations during the September Dunk it for Plunket period.
They also provided wipes samples for the ‘Dunk Kits’ - host boxes for the fundraisers signing up and holding morning or afternoon tea fundraisers with their loved ones. And to elevate the campaign even further, the marketing team also spread the word digitally in emails to their customer base, and in-store at select supermarkets. Their eye-catching Huggies x Dunk it for Plunket branding helped stop nappy-shoppers in their tracks, and encouraged donations to keep Plunket’s services going strong. We’re grateful that Huggies will be running their Double Dunk and other initiatives again this year.
It’s an amazing show of support for our new-to-the-public fundraiser. But really only the tip of an impressive iceberg of a partnership.
Plunket’s Head of Fundraising, Kelly Douglas, and Marketing Manager, Olivia Lintern, attended the July 15 morning tea to catch up and take part. But they also reminisced about all of the incredible shared achievements to date, like the nappy banks in Auckland and in Christchurch that help vulnerable whānau in need of a little extra help.
They also learned details of some of the Plunket clinic renovation projects that Huggies has spearheaded in the past, thanks to Shayleen Taylor, Administration Manager.
Shayleen has worked with Huggies since the ‘90s when the Plunket-Huggies partnership first came about. She shared some beautiful photos with Kelly and Olivia of the renos, the first of which was a makeover in 2009 of our Henderson Family Centre. The Huggies team rolled up their sleeves and did a stunning job of the inside, and also cleaned up the exterior grounds over the course of three intensive days, making it a welcoming place for parents in their early days with baby.
The 2009 project taskforce; before and after shots of the interior makeover
Shayleen - who has a background in interior design - reflected on the hard mahi of that renovation and the pride she felt as the project manager. She had a chuckle when she remembered sternly telling off one of the team for standing in the middle of the room with a dripping paint brush, white paint spilling over the floorboards.
Shayleen had been exasperated, as she wanted the new interior to look perfect and couldn’t believe how careless this colleague was being with the paint! Well, it turned out to be the General Manager!
“He just looked at me in shock, and then we both just carried on to get the job done – it was a sign of how committed we were to making this clinic look stunning!”
Fast-forward three decades, and there have been a few General Managers and other team changes, but Shayleen is still here, still proud of those projects and ones to come. And the Huggies-Plunket relationship is still going strong. Thirty years of new parents, their babies, and the shared care we put into our services and products for whānau.
A big thank you to Huggies for getting behind Dunk it for Plunket again. Let’s make 2025 the best, biggest, most fun one yet!