Tauranga charities welcome Acorn bequests

Glenn Williams, chief fire officer of the Te Puke volunteer fire brigade, said the almost $3000 donation was going to be a big help. Photo/John Borren

A financial donation made to Te Puke's volunteer fire brigade by a local donor will help significantly towards the running of its emergency medical response vehicle, its chief says.

The brigade was one of 126 Western Bay charitable groups to benefit from this year's Acorn Foundation funding distribution.

More than $850,000 will be split between the groups - $70,000 more than last year.

Glenn Williams, chief fire officer of the Te Puke volunteer fire brigade, which will receive almost $3000, said the money was going to be a big help.

"The brigade's extremely appreciative of the funding that we're getting, which is going towards the running of our emergency medical response vehicle."

He said the brigade had to do quite a bit of fundraising to buy the vehicle a few years ago.

"But there's still the ongoing cost of running that vehicle, so this donation is going to help significantly towards that."

Nicky Wilkins, general manager of the Acorn Foundation, said the specified donations to Te Puke St John Ambulance ($16,112.79) and the Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade ($2989.39) both came from a local donor.

"That's where they want their annual distributions to go to - to support Te Puke because that's the area where they've always lived."

She said both emergency services knew they would get that money every year from the same donor.

"They can actually budget on that money coming in," Mrs Wilkins said.

Tauranga Women's Collective received the biggest donation this year - $61,400.

Mrs Wilkins said the money was going towards funding a first response counsellor based at Tauranga Police Station to provide a counselling service for domestic violence callouts.

"It's actually the first time it's ever happened in New Zealand - that philanthropists have funded a first response callout for domestic violence based at the police station."

Most of the money for that grant came from the Tauranga HELP Fund, originally a charitable trust established in the early 1980s when police medical officer John Barr became increasingly frustrated at the lack of facilities for victims of some form of personal invasion.

When the Tauranga HELP charitable trust was wound up in 2007 its assets were transferred to the Acorn Foundation, which makes annual distributions to support people who have been abused.

Meanwhile, Brookfield School received $3485 for its Seasons of Growth programme, which helps children to cope with the loss of a significant person in their lives.

Barbara Phillips, the school's special education needs co-ordinator, said she has already got her group filled for the programme in term four.

"A mother was just saying to my principal yesterday that she's so relieved to know that her two boys will be involved. Never underestimate the impact that this funding has on the lives of our children."

The Acorn Foundation has distributed $4.6 million since its inception in 2003.