Supporting Our Community
EVERGREEN FOUNDATION
Cyclone Relief Fund
When Cyclone Gabrielle struck Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast in February, the widespread devastation across the agricultural and horticultural sectors quickly became apparent.
With our region torn apart the Evergreen Foundation quickly stepped up and activated a relief fund with $100,000 seed funding specifically aimed at getting those sectors – our community – back on their feet.
As the independent, charitable arm of the TUMU Group, The Evergreen Foundation knew where the help was needed, and we knew how to act.
The relief fund was supported immediately by key suppliers, industry partners, friends and locals who made the decision to gift their funds through our charitable trust.
The significant support of key national donors, ANZ and the Red Cross, has enabled Evergreen Foundation to scale its activities in our communities at this time of great need.
Thank you to all our donors, it has been an extraordinary time of people coming together to help others.
Helping Primary Producers
The Cyclone event was the first time the foundation has sought public donations. To date we have received pledges and donations of just over $3 million. Of that, we have allocated $2.6 million.
The foundation appointed an independent Grants Committee who bring a combined wealth of experience in governance and industry, to oversee where the foundations funds are placed.
As we moved into the recovery phase in April, funding was further distributed into communities in Hawkes Bay to Wairoa, and to Tairawhiti/Gisborne.
If you would like to contribute to relief efforts, please go to our donation form by clicking on the link below.
EVERGREEN FOUNDATION
Our Relief Actions
Our aim is to fill the gap in government funding and other avenues to help people in the horticultural and agricultural sectors, and their families, get back on their feet. Initially timing was critical in immediate response to the crisis at hand. In the following months we have been able to place our financial support and energy behind rural communities suffering hardship to help them through this recovery phase.
To date our independent Grants Committee has committed $2.6 M to a number of initiatives including:
- Hort Day, an event to support local growers affected by the floods, with an apple gift bin and networking event
- supporting children attending boarding schools from those sectors to remain at school
- the bin sanitisation programme for the horticulture sector
- sending 40 local growers to the annual Growers Conference in Christchurch
- partnering with the Rapid Relief Team to support our agriculture community by bringing Fencing to Farmers
- connecting communities in rural areas through community events.
- supporting the network of local volunteer initiatives such as: Hawkes Bay Clean Up Team, River of Silt Clean Up Crew, The Dinner Club, Neela Neela’s Thai Kitchen, and The Hawke’s Bay Cyclone Laundry Network.
Our Team
The Evergreen Foundation team is made up of a group of Trustees, an Independent Grants Committee who assess grant applications and an Executive Officer who manages Foundation strategy and activities.
FEATURED NEWS
News & Articles
Read our latest news here:
