Good in the Hood: "Finding ourselves in a tough spot"

With your help, Z Energy’s (Z) neighbourhood community programme Good in the Hood helps to fund community food parcels.

Visionwest Waka Whakakitenga, a West Auckland based charity, are on a mission to bring hope and transformation to those in need.

Visionwest help elevate those struggling financially through a community project called Christmas From The Heart. Donations from Z and others makes that out-reach possible. With 380 volunteers, Visionwest has truly created a project the local community wants to support.  Nathan May, General Manager of Community Services, knows the Christmas season can be very stressful, especially for families.

“Last year we were able to help more than 1,700 families over seven days. We distributed over 5,000 gifts to children and food to families so they could put on a Christmas dinner. We get that funding from as many places as we can,” explains Nathan.

“Someone we helped this year was a solo mum with kids who had lots of extra family coming over, and she just couldn't afford to feed everyone. Other people have had unexpected bills or lost their work due to Covid.”

Visionwest sees a wide range of people needing support. It’s not always obvious who needs assistance; each person has their own unique situation and story to tell.

“We support a whole variety of people, regardless of the need. Sometimes it’s easy to pass judgement because someone is well dressed or has a nice car, but we don’t know what’s happened in their lives. So many of us are one or two decisions away from finding ourselves in a tough spot of our own.”

Visionwest also continues to help people throughout the year. Even though they are well supported there is always more they can do. Nathan says, “At the moment we are inundated with requests after the floods and cyclone.”

Ka pai Aotearoa

Thanks for fuelling up at Z and voting with your little orange token. You’ve helped us share $1 million with community groups across New Zealand in 2022.

Over the last decade, we've donated more than $9.5 million to groups doing good in our hoods. Find out more about Good in the Hood.