Against the backdrop of the rising cost of living, the Fordlands Community Centre in Rotorua has brought back its ‘Collect For a Kura’ campaign for a second year.
The vital initiative is a community-led effort to ease the financial squeeze on whānau by encouraging the donation of school supplies, ensuring every tamaiti and rangatahi can return to school with dignity.
The campaign’s organiser, Daniel Haurua-Clubb, explained that the ‘Collect For a Kura’ initiative was born from observing the significant financial burden of back-to-school costs on local whānau.
The goal is to “remove as many obstacles as possible” caused by the rising cost of living, with a community call to action to fill backpacks with essential school supplies.
Haurua-Clubb highlighted how even specific items, such as science calculators required for graphics or high-level maths, can cost upwards of $150, “and that’s on sale.” The campaign aims to eliminate these small costs that “slowly become big things so that our whānau can A, get their kids through quality education and whilst not breaking the bank or putting themselves in further hardship,” Haurua-Clubb said.
“‘Collect For a Kura’ was a kaupapa that was started up because we were starting to notice that a lot of rangatahi were having trouble staying in school and there are a bunch of other factors that contributed to that,” he said.
Beyond just providing immediate relief, the organisers are looking towards a greater long-term impact. “We’re hoping that this kaupapa will lead to hopefully getting our young people into more education around possible career options and exposing them to more options out there for careers, trades, employment and beyond,” Haurua-Clubb said.
“We also ask that for every young person, they need an adult that thinks the world of them and so if you can’t contribute in this capacity then we would hope that there were adults out there that really cared for our rangatahi and want to see them win and you can start with something as small as encouraging a young person.”
