Pink Shirt Day

Pink Shirt Day

Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!

Celebrated annually around the globe, Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying, after a new student was harassed and threatened for wearing pink. The next day hundreds of students turned up to school in pink, some from head to toe, to stand together against bullying.

Pink Shirt Day is now a global movement, and is celebrated by schools, workplaces and communities around Aotearoa each year.

In support of the movement, on 21st May, White Associates proudly wore pink and ran a fun raffle which raised $250 for the Mental Health Foundation. These funds will help to continue to raise awareness about bullying prevention and provide resources that promote inclusive workplaces, schools and communities nationwide.

 

Pink Shirt Day 2

 

Give A Little Month

Give A Little Month

2020 has been a crazy year (so far!)

Covid-19 has affected all parts of our society and sadly had a huge impact on the ability of charities, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations to generate income.

Funding is an essential for these organisations to continue to do the good work that they do but now unable to rely on traditional fundraising methods (e.g. face-to-face work, donations, and volunteering) it is difficult for them to raise the much-needed funds to keep them going.

At White Associates we wanted to do our small part and set out to raise $1,500 in the month of September in what we called “Give A Little Month”.

To add some spice and extra community spirit, we held 5 different events over 5 weeks in the office.

These “Give A Little” events included:

  • Commit Your Commute – we encouraged staff to donate the money they saved on their commute over lockdown
  • Bacon & Egg Brekkie Rolls – on World Suicide Prevention Day – Friday, 10th September – we started our day with a bacon and egg roll and some open conversations about mental health and wellbeing
  • Packed Lunches – we encouraged the staff to make their own lunch and donate what they would have paid for a takeaway to charity instead
  • High Tea Party – the management team competed in a bake off which was judged at a high tea party in the office
  • Raffle – we auctioned off some great prizes inhouse.

Through these various events we managed raise over our $1,500 target and have decided to divvy the funds across four different charities chosen by the entire team:

  1.  Auckland City Mission
  2. MATES in Construction
  3. Mental Health Awareness Foundation NZ
  4. Life Community

More about the charities:

Auckland City Mission

The Mission, a longstanding client of White Associates, provides integrated social services to anyone seeking assistance such as the isolated elderly, rough sleepers, people living in cars and inappropriate housing. Others are battling addictions, living with mental health issues, or struggling to feed their families over a period of unexpected crisis.

MATES in construction logo

MATES in Construction has 3 key focus areas to work towards their vision of significantly improving mental wellness and reducing suicide in the construction industry:

  1. To advance mental health and social services in New Zealand by promoting the prevention and control of mental illness for people engaged in the construction industry.
  2. Providing leadership for our people to gain better access to mental health services.
  3. Building a stronger more resilient workforce.

The Mental Health Foundation NZ provide free information and training, and advocate for policies and services that support people with experience of mental illness, and also their families/whānau and friends.

Life Community

Life Community provides practical help to the community through many initiatives including

  • Soup Kitchens
  • Christmas boxes
  • Community Support Networks

and much much more…