Working with youth pays off

All Kiwis enjoy beating Aussies and Rotorua's Damar Industries is no exception.
The company picked up a highly commended in the corporate social responsibility section of the recent Australasian Aerosol Awards, an event usually dominated by the strong Australian aerosol industry.
Damar operations manager Paul Wightman said it was tough to win at the awards.
"There are some large producers in Australia who tend to dominate everything, so, for the little guys in Kiwiland to pick up one of the six awards was great."
Damar produces 8 million aerosol cans each year, making it the largest producer in New Zealand.
"But Australia has the biggest producers in the Asia/Pacific region. To get the award we had to do something a bit different to benefit the local community."
The commendation was based on two youth projects Wightman and Damar were involved in during the past year, a winning Young Enterprise Scheme team and a Keep Rotorua Beautiful initiative.
Judges said the programmes worked "effectively to promote the company and the aerosol industry in Rotorua".
Wightman said Damar prided itself on being socially responsible and tried to give back to its community.
Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme
Damar worked with three students from John Paul College to develop and launch an entirely new product as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme.
Students Courtney Kosar, Lorne Davies and Richard Bell won the Rotorua/Taupo regional final with their company NZ Venture with Britelight, New Zealand's first photo-luminescent, all-weather, glow-in-the-dark aerosol spray paint.
'We provided them with support, direction and technical knowledge. It provided them with the opportunity to take a business idea and follow it through," he said.
The product is being developed in the real world and Wightman said it had plenty of applications for safety, entertainment and events. As well as mentoring the group, Damar provided technical expertise to help with the development of the product and use of its product development laboratory and factory to manufacture a commercial run.
Youth Programme - Keep Rotorua Beautiful
The second initiative was focused on replacing ugly graffiti with graffiti-art murals. Young artists were encouraged to create community murals using aerosol spray paints supplied by Damar. "The idea was to have youths creating pieces of art on public walls rather than having an eyesore with graffiti on it. Some of the themes depicted in the art were to do with social responsibility such as not taking drugs and reducing family violence."
Youngsters worked with local graffiti-buster Ants Haines to paint over tagging around the city.