News
News in brief
Photograph: The new Homai Children's Library.
Homai Children’s Library
After months of renovation work, the team at Homai are relishing their new and improved environment.
Lucy Smith, Librarian for the Homai Special Formats Library, says the children love the new space and are finding their way around well.
“It is very light and bright with a feature wall of bricks from the old buildings.There are different areas for the children to sit and read, areas for assessment families who come to the library, and room for BLENNZ staff to access the reference collection too.”
Along with the refurbishment, the library also has two new computers supplied by BLENNZ, a DAISY player, four iPads and over 300 digital media Playaways, which are proving very popular.
Bayleys’ support continues
We’re pleased to announce that Bayleys Real Estate has committed to continue as Principal Sponsor of RNZFB Guide Dog Services through until December 2013.
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As we head into this new period, we’d like to thank the nationwide Bayleys team for their wonderful support and hard work over the years. Since 2004, Bayleys has raised more than $2.2 million for RNZFB Guide Dog Services.
A wall at Bayleys’ head office is now jam-packed with photographs of all of the dogs they have sponsored, and together we’re looking forward to adding many more to the gallery.
Attitude Award finalists
Finalists for the fourth annual Attitude Awards have been selected and among them are four RNZFB members! We are delighted to congratulate these inspirational people:
- Sport performer: Jayne Parsons
- Artistic achievement: Eddie Low, Natalie Te Paa, and Sarah Houbolt
The Attitude Awards celebrate courageous New Zealanders who make the most of life, while living with a disability. At the time of writing the winners were to be announced at a black tie event held in Auckland on 1 December.
Your bequest could help generations to come
Bequests are a vital source of funds that enable us to continue making a significant difference to our members’ lives, now and in the future.
The RNZFB invites you to think about leaving a gift in your will to help us empower blind and partially sighted New Zealanders to live their own lives to the full, just as we have been doing for more than 120 years.
Naturally we encourage you to first look after your family before making provision in your will to support the RNZFB’s work. Your bequest can be specified either as a percentage of your estate, as a set amount or selected asset, or as the remainder of your estate after provision for your other beneficiaries.
For more information, please contact us on 0800 366 283 or supportercare@rnzfb.org.nz
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Good luck to our goalball teams
At time of print, two New Zealand goalball teams, comprising RNZFB members, were making plans to travel to Sydney to attempt to qualify for the London Paralympics.
If successful, 2012 will be the first year New Zealand will compete in goalball at the Paralympics.
The men's team includes: Jason Griffiths, Michael Law, Charles Tauhore and Steve Rawiri from Auckland; Paihau Solomon from Taupo and Hamish Tahana from Napier.
A women's team has also been named: Jo Frogatt and Petronella Spicer from Christchurch; Kellie Dore, Annie Pesamino and Dallas Phillips from Auckland.
The Australian Paralympics movement has been instrumental in helping New Zealand participate in goalball competitively and is helping fund the trip across the ditch.
Photograph: A goalball game in action.
About goalball
Did you know that goalball was invented for sport and rehabilitation for blind veterans after World War II?
It was then introduced internationally in 1976 at the Paralympics in Toronto.
Since then the popularity of goalball has increased and it is now played in all International Blind Sport Federation regions.
It’s a unique team sport, played by two teams of three players. The players are blindfolded to enable blind and partially sighted athletes to compete together.
The ball weighs 1.25kg and contains bells which make a noise when the ball is moving. The aim is to roll the ball over the opponent's goal line using a bowling action.
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Blind Week Appeal 2011
This year we did things a little differently in our celebration of Blind Week, which ran from Tuesday 25 - Monday 31 October.
Firstly, we launched our inaugural ‘Bake a Difference for Blind Week’ event. Bake a Difference was a nationwide initiative to combine New Zealanders’ knack for baking and their enthusiasm to lend a hand.
Jax Hamilton, the vivacious finalist from TVNZ’s most recent series of Masterchef, was delighted to be the face of our Bake a Difference campaign.
She encouraged New Zealanders to get involved in the fun by baking delicious goodies during Blind Week and selling them to friends, family, workmates or others for a small donation to the RNZFB.
We also launched an innovative new way to collect donations online, which replaced the street appeal undertaken in previous years.
Through the online Blind Week collection, our supporters were able to set up their own collection pages and gather donations for Blind Week by spreading the word far and wide.
Thank you to everyone for your support of Blind Week 2011 and for embracing our ideas to try something a bit different!
We look forward to updating you with the final results of the appeal.
Photograph: Jax Hamilton baking.