Rachel Boyack MP

Inspiring to hear from Nelson legend Nathan Fa’avae tonight at the fundraiser for Nelson Provincial Museum’s new Archives, Research and Collections (ARC) Facility. After a day of travel that started at 4am in Palmerston North, and three flights, it was good to finally be home for this important event.

Nathan shared his stories from his time competing for New Zealand as Captain of the world champion Adventure Racing team, including some hilarious tales of deliberately evading competing teams, and using sign language to source warm clothing, only to have a mountain bike stolen from the team!

Nathan’s speech reminded us why this project is so important to our region. The museum owns and has guardianship of thousands of items from across Nelson Tasman. Keeping the collection safely protected means our stories can be preserved for future generations. It’s important that we protect our history and the items that represent the important stories of our past. Congratulations to the museum team on a successful fundraising event, and thank you to everyone who sponsored and supported the fundraiser tonight!

Today I met with Chelsea and Jane from the Top of the South Community Foundation for an update on their work supporting local charitable organisations.

The foundation started with $5000 in the bank, and now have investments of over $12 million that they use to support community groups in areas like social support, arts and the environment. In the last financial year they gave out an impressive $550,000 in grants! Amazing work from humble beginnings.

If you’re an organisation seeking funding, their grant application process is open until the end of June. Or, if you’re a person looking to financially support our community, it’s worth getting in touch with the foundation to see how you can help!

During these difficult times, knowing there is an organisation that is working hard to grow funds to support our community gives me some hope.