Charity chairwoman’s decade of service

The long-serving chair of Marlborough’s Graeme Dingle Foundation has stood down.

At a special gathering on Tuesday night, Graeme Dingle Foundation chair Nicki Stretch was honoured for her decade at the helm of the important children’s charity.

Graeme Dingle Foundation regional manager Kelvin Watt told a crowd of supporters at the event Nicki’s strong, business-like approach, balanced with a huge heart, empowered staff to get things done.

“Nicki develops a huge amount of trust and respect from myself and across our staff teams by taking the time to listen and understand.

“The other one thing I’d like to add about Nicki is her positivity and courage.

“There’s a style to her leadership that empowers others to achieve,” says Kelvin.

In 2013, when Nicki started, the programme, called foundation for Youth Development at the time, helped a handful of 14-yearolds.

Now, there are more than 3000 young people, across 20 schools and colleges, involved in pro- grammes in Marlborough every week.

The foundation has gone from 1.5 staff and a budget of $120,000 to 21 staff and an operating budget of $1.2 million.

“There were some relatively choppy waters to navigate in those early years, and Nicki’s unwavering commitment and passion for this organisation really can’t be underrated,” Kelvin says.

“Her strong leadership and guidance and her willingness to put in the hours to do the work and to work through some tough decisions has definitely made the organisation more resilient in the long run.”

Nicki says chairing the board has been quite a ride.

“It takes a lot of drive and a lot of personal commitment.

“And we’re just so fortunate that over the years we’ve had not only the passionate staff, but also the passion of trustees that lead and drive that.

She says it’s important to remain true to your values, and the Foun- dation has great values.

“Not only do we live and breathe them [values], but we teach them as an organisation.

“It’s just so rewarding, I think, to stand back and see the growth that we’ve had over ten years and the lives that we have managed to impact. Not only the children … Our businesses, our community, family communities.

“As they say, it takes a village and I’m just one person, but I’ve been very lucky and privileged to be at the helm like this for that amount of time.

“I’m always going to be part of the wider whanau. I know that and I look forward to it and thank you everybody.”