SKYDIVE95 A MAJOR MISSION FOR A WORTHY CAUSE

A group of residents at Greenwood Park (GWP) Retirement Village in Tauranga, organised an amazing event to raise extensive funds for Hato Hone St John aiming to purchase a new ambulance for the Tauranga community. The event: a Skydive!

The idea came about when 95-year-old GWP resident and veteran skydiver, Jean Crabtree, noted an ambulance branded with another retirement village’s name and set about to achieve the same branding for GWP and our local community.

Jean and her 96-year-old friend and fellow resident, John Rowlandson, are two of 18 individuals who jumped on 25th April at Tauranga Airport with a local skydive company: Skydive The Mount Ltd. The full group included four generations from Jean’s family and tallied a combined age of over 1,000 years.

While Jean has completed two other tandem skydives (for her 85th and 90th birthdays), for most of the other jumpers, it was a first – including John. An avid Scottish country dancer, he decided he may as well give this a try: “What have I got to lose!” He said he was quite surprised at just how lovely and relaxing it was: “…just like sitting in an armchair, looking out the window at a beautiful view.”

So far roughly $100,000 has been raised, and the organising committee expect people will continue to donate to the cause for quite some time to help them reach the $300,000 mark.

To find out more interesting information and view photos, visit our website: skydive95.com

People can also donate to the cause via the website: skydive95.com/our-aim