$715k donation to Mātai as QET winds up

Quest Enterprise Trust has donated more than $700,000 to Mātai Medical Research Institute. From left, Quest trustee and administrator Alison Barclay, foundation trustee Anne Pardoe and Mātai chief executive Samantha Holdsworth are pictured at Mātai’s new site on Childers Road. Mrs Pardoe is holding an art piece done by a Gisborne Girls’ High Mātai intern, based on a scan of her own brain. Picture by Paul Rickard

Students wanting to access a career in Medical research here have been given a massive boost with the donation of $715,000.

Gisborne’s medical research and education institute Mātai is the recipient, following the winding up of local charity Quest Enterprise Trust.

The funding will sponsor a research and education space in the new Mātai building on Childers Road and provide scholarships and internships to Gisborne Girl’s High School students, as well as other scholarship opportunities open to all Tairāwhiti students.

QET was set up in 1987 with the intention of supporting students leaving school with few formal qualifications.

Access training schemes were established including wool handling, weaving and welding.

“After 37 years the decision was made to dissolve the trust and donate the accumulated funds to Mātai, which continues the objectives of the trust to provide training, skills and scholarships to GGHS students for the benefit of the East Coast region, QET foundation trustee Anne Pardoe said.

Mātai chief executive and research director Samantha Holdsworth welcomed the donation.

“We are so grateful to Quest Trust for providing GGHS students opportunities in advanced medical sciences and related technology through Mātai.”

Mātai Quest scholarships open in September and internships open in July.