Thank you so much for your support during our current appeal.
In this winter’s campaign, we’re sharing Elly’s story. Elly is a loving māmā of twin girls, but the nature of her husband’s work has him out of the home for long hours, making her days long as well. She doesn’t have a lot of local friends or family, so loneliness was starting to become a regular feeling. This is where Plunket’s Giving People Support programme came into play – volunteer Marlene started visiting Elly and the girls every week. She offered practical help, like feeding a baby or helping Elly get to physio appointments after she unfortunately broke her foot. But truthfully, it was the simple act of sitting with Elly on her couch at home that became the highlight of Elly’s week. Because even the strongest parents need company and connection.
So far, the appeal has raised just over $45k. But we need to raise $75k if we want to run our services as planned in the year ahead. It will also mean that we can keep rolling out the in-home volunteer programme in other places across the motu.
“Plunket has the statistics and the reports [for the Giving People Support programme] and can see how valuable it is.” South Canterbury Plunket’s Giving People Support Coordinator, Juliana Sargeant, says. “It’s a great service. Bit by bit, town by town, it will keep growing nationally.”
Please spread the word about our winter appeal so that we can see Juliana’s hope for Giving People Support and similar programmes come to fruition across the whole country.