The work of the Alzheimer's Whanganui team (from left) Fiona Allison (diversional therapist), Mary Conway (navigator), Renee Clark (manager) and Teriē Carson (office administrator) is supported through grants from the TG Macarthy Trust facilitated by the Public Trust.
The work of the Alzheimer's Whanganui team (from left) Fiona Allison (diversional therapist), Mary Conway (navigator), Renee Clark (manager) and Teriē Carson (office administrator) is supported through grants from the TG Macarthy Trust facilitated by the Public Trust.
Making a will is one way of supporting a favourite charity in the future - and the Public Trust says this is the ideal week to think about it.
Public Trust’s Wills Week is on July 14 to 20. The annual campaign encourages people to make a will, with thefocus this year on supporting charities.
“Nearly half of adult New Zealanders don’t have a will in place, so at Public Trust we have a really strong educational focus,” Public Trust specialist trustee for charities Kimberley Black said.
“We want people in the community to know about end of life and future planning and promote the importance of wills to everyone.”
Public Trust manages more than 130 public trusts, some set up within a person’s lifetime and others left in a will.
“The income that we generate from their assets and investments is then distributed back into the community in whichever way they wanted it to be.”
Kimberley Black of Public Trust hopes New Zealanders will think about how their will could contribute to a cause that matters to them.
The New Zealand Bequest Report, released earlier this year in collaboration with Public Trust and JBWere, estimated that charities received $320m annually from gifts in wills.
“This year, we’re calling on New Zealanders to think about how their will can be a tool to support charitable giving,” Black said.
“What I think is awesome about this is it’s unique to everyone and it’s really about your values and whatever causes matter to you.”
A significant trust for Whanganui is the TG Macarthy Trust, the trust of brewer and businessman Thomas George Macarthy of Wellington who died on August 19, 1912.
“It is one of New Zealand’s most significant philanthropic charitable trusts; it’s worth a little over $100 million in assets now,” Black said.
The TG Macarthy Trust donates to registered charitable or educational organisations operating in the former Wellington provincial district, including Whanganui, with both regular granting and contestable granting.
Alzheimer’s Whanganui has received $27,000 in grants from the trust, including $7000 in late 2024.
“Obviously it’s beneficial for the person out in the group but it’s equally as beneficial for the carer because it gives them the much-needed respite to have a break or do whatever they need to do,” Alzheimer’s Whanganui manager Renee Clark said.
“Our groups are different every month, they are decided based on the group’s interest. We might take them out to a local farm and watch some sheep shearing, we might go to museums, we might go to a local flower grower. Anything and everything the group may be interested in.”
Diversional therapist Fiona Allison said on one trip the group drove in 4WDs on Turakina Beach and shared fish and chips for lunch.
“After lunch, three of them completed our members’ survey while having a hot drink. The only lady in the group got emotional filling it in,” Allison said.
“I offered lots of TLC and asked her why she was emotional. She responded saying, ‘I feel lonely living on my own and these outings with everyone I really look forward to’. She asked me if I would walk around the retirement village where she lives and recruit some new ladies as she is the only one.
“She went on to say they need to know what they are missing out on. She finished by saying she wishes we could have the groups more often.”
“The grant funding isn’t just about outings - it’s about restoring connection, dignity and support for both people living with dementia and their carers,” Clark said.
“The impact, in short, is that it’s giving people with dementia an opportunity to connect with others, to be in the community; often people don’t get out as much as they used to.”
“We rely quite heavily on grants and donations from the community so, without those grants, we just couldn’t do what we do.”
To learn more about how to create a will or a trust, and how it can support causes close to you, visit publictrust.co.nz
Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
