What a difference a donation makes!

Last month a young girl reached her dream to attend the 2017 Victoria Aboriginal Cultural Festival to celebrate National Aboriginal Day in British Columbia Canada.
Makanihi had been given this great opportunity to attend the festival with her Kapa Haka group, He Waka Kotuia who had been asked to perform to represent Aotearoa.

"I am so proud to be a member of He Waka Kotuia, the waka that interweaves us together Since moving to Dunedin last year and not really knowing anyone this kapa haka cultural group has interweaved me into a community, into a family, into a school of learning that supports and encourages me to achieve goals that I thought I would never reach." said Makanihi.

Makanihi talked about how life wasn't  always  easy for her, so an opportunity to attend a cultural exchange trip to Canada where she performed with the local communities of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, sounded too good to be true.

Makanihi and her group worked really hard to ensure they could represent our beautiful country and our beautiful culture well. 

Now for any 16 year old, travelling to the other side of the world is a dream come true. The $5,000 needed to attend is when reality settles back in. Especially when your family necessarily can't afford to pay the ticket for you.

Makanihi was very resourceful though, she worked extra shifts at her part time job. She made poi to sell, She had  people selling cakes and prepared meals, she had hairdressers cutting hair she even had a tattoo artist raffling off his work. She also set up her own fundraising page on TicketSuite and managed to collect the remaining funds she needed just in time.

In early June Makanihi set off to British Columbia where she lived with the local indigenous communities, learning their culture and way of life. She performed on stage at the cultural festival with the rest of her group and her passion for culture and language grew.

Upon returning to Aotearoa, her group entered into the regional's for Matatini 2018. This is the national kapa haka competition and not only did her group take out first place  to represent her region but Makanihi won the Kaitātaki Wahine, the female leading role. A great step towards going to the national competition

A family member said "We are a proud whānau of Makanihi who won first place Kaitātaki Wahine and whose Kapa Haka Roopu won first overall and will represent our region at the nationals. You defiintely deserve a night off from doing the dishes! Well done honey"

We here at TicketSuite are proud of this young wahine and proud of everyone who made a donation. It really is amazing just what our young people can achieve when they have many people supporting them.
It's amazing the difference a donation can make!

Fundraising for our Kids

Everybody knows raising a child is expensive but when you start to add it all up, it can kind of seem really daunting. I think we should teach this at secondary schools as part of the sexual health education curriculum .

With school fee's, school uniforms, sports clubs, cultural groups, music classes, singing lessons, dance class and don't forget the day to day costs like the excessive water bill from their extremely long showers, mobile phone bill from their excessive need to communicate to ALL of their friends ALL of the time, the pantry being restocked three times a week due to the mysterious food terminator and then there's the "mum can I have" hidden costs.

Honestly I don't know how I do it but I do and I wouldn't change it...well not all of it.
And you think you are doing well, you think 'I got this I know how to budget I can save the world, I'm supermum!' and then you get that letter from your child's school.

Seriously they should put these letters in a red envelope, a bright red envelope so you know not to open it.
Now I am not one of those mums who isn't involved in their child's education, I get right in there with my calculator and iPad ready to Google the answers. I attend my teacher parent date and all the school activities. I help out when I can and I love their schools. I acknowledge the enormous task these poor under valued superstars have to endure and salute them for trying their best to inspire, teach and look after 1500 kids just like mine every weekday.
So I take a really really long breath and I open that letter and yes my child has another school trip.

Now I don't want to complain this is not my intent here, though  in my day, our school trip was to go to the park down the road, we would pitch our tent and the only cost was the old Milo can we would convert to a hobo oven and the sausages to cook that mum packed for us. Now I know times have changed. These were the days of playing bull rush and making leg warmers from cutting the sleeves off your old jersey. I don't remember much about the trip but I remember having a lot of fun with my friends. It really is that simple, kids just need fun and in an ever developing world where kids fun comes at an ever increasing cost, as a parent I have to sit and wonder, what happened to the good old days.

Should my child go to a school trip to the other side of the world? These culture exchange trips are an incredible opportunity for my child to experience. I know this is something I could possibly never give them, so how can I say no. How can I say to my child, it is so fantastic that you got nominated out off all the other students to go on this trip because you have done so well at school but.... I just cant. I look at the $8000.00 I need to raise and think 'where is that supermum, that one that thought she had this, thought she could save the world, where is she now? I now have to include fundraising in my repertoire of skills. This isn't the cupcake sales my mother use to do, as good as her secret recipe was it isn't worth $8000.00 . I need help!

Here at TicketSuite we understand the need for parents to fundraise to help with their children's education costs. After talking to one mum we decided we needed to help and provide our facilities to more families. To raise funds online through peer to peer fundraising, buy a ticket, raffles or any other ideas you can think of. to raise funds for your child's trip.
Talk to our team who have helped other families raise the much needed funds for their child's school trips, we could even help the whole class to collect. No membership fees no hidden costs. Get in touch and see if we can help you visit www.ticketsuite.co.nz