Generosity of Sprit

GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT

Head of Community and Global Connections • Tania Morgan gives an overview of the generosity of spirit that our Rangi community showed in the past year.

As in previous years, we continued to have special relationships with a number of organisations • such as Ronald McDonald House, City Mission, YMCA, Cholmondeley Childrens’ Home, World Vision, Christchurch City Council, Christchurch Hospital and Nurse Maude Hospital. In addition, we supported many worthy local charities including KidsCan, Aviva, St John, The Cancer Society, Pillars and the SPCA. The highlights of 2019 include:

32 students volunteered on March 3rd to help at Children’s Day which was held in the Red Zone, New Brighton. This continues to be a popular event with our students who really enjoy helping families to have a fun day. We continue to send the largest contingent of volunteers of all schools in Christchurch that help on Children’s Day. Feedback from Marge Carran, the Children’s Day coordinator, was very positive and the students were a great credit to our school. As in previous years, a large number of Years 12 and 13 students also helped out at the YMCA holiday camps during term breaks.

Blue Ribbon Father and Daughter Breakfast raising funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

Many of our students took part in a variety of fundraising events organised by Ronald McDonald House and contributed in other ways such as taking home baking on a weekly basis to the House.

Staff cooked on Sunday afternoons from February to November at the Night Shelter for homeless men at the City Mission. I am very grateful for the tremendous support from the staff.

Twelve senior students volunteered at Nurse Maude Hospital in Merivale. We have established a very good relationship with Linda Mace, the Volunteer Coordinator, who is very pleased to have our girls help on the wards and in the second-hand shops. After the March Mosque attack, one of our chefs, Philippa McIntyre, was part of a collective of local chefs who helped the local Christchurch Muslim community to provide a children’s festival to celebrate Eid, marking the end of Ramadan. The event was hosted at the Air Force Museum on June 9th. 22 Rangi students helped Philippa with preparing and running this event.

30 Year 12 and Year 13 students helped out at a biannual fundraiser for Cholmondeley Home – this was the ‘Sculpture on the Peninsula’ event which is held every 2 years in November at Loudon Farm, Teddington, Banks Peninsula.

Our girls continue to support the following charities by volunteering to collect for their annual appeals: Child Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Women’s Refuge and the Dementia Appeal. A Year 12 student, Sophie Pye, coordinated a large contingent of Rangi students to help with the very successful Avon River ‘Mother of all Cleanups’ on May 11th.

In recognition of Rangi’s excellent 40 Hour Famine campaign last year, we were awarded the ‘World Vision Whanaungatanga Award’ celebrating new partnerships in the World Vision Whānau. In addition two students, Emily Irvine and Holly O’Loughlin, were awarded the ‘Greatest Individual Impact’ awards for outstanding fundraising effort. We were also awarded a Senior Leadership Scholarship for 2020, which we presented to Phoebe Sugrue. Phoebe organised a “Service Conference’ earlier in the year for a large number of Canterbury High school students.

The Year 12 and Year 13 students are also encouraged to seek their own opportunities for doing community service and it was pleasing to see the breadth of activities (both in and out of school) that the students were involved in. Thank you to those people who gave in 2019 through monetary donations, gifts-in-kind and volunteering in support of the above initiatives.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT

2019 was a very successful year for sustainability endeavours at the school • Kate Rivers, Director of Sustainability, looks back at some of the initiatives that contributed positively to our Rangi community as well as the community around us.

Each year, Rangi finds new ways to contribute positively to sustainability, and 2019 saw some true highlights, which included being acknowledged as national finalists in the Sustainable Business Network Awards and KNZB Sustainable Schools Awards. We were also honoured to have Jane Goodall and her New Zealand Foundation spend time at Rangi. We hosted a Youth Environmental Leaders forum with representatives from across New Zealand and formed relationships with the University of Canterbury Sustainability and Political Studies lecturers and students, NGO’s and business.

Further highlights from throughout the year included:

The establishment of an Eco-Action Nursery to grow native plants for the red zone, potting over 1000 native seedlings into bags and planting 800 natives at QE2 in collaboration with Christ’s College and Shirley Boys’ High. We will meet our collective goal to plant 5000 native trees in the red zone in the next three years. We are grateful to have support for this project by way of a sponsorship from House of Travel Merivale. Students led initiatives including working closely with Women’s Refuge and Battered Women’s Trust to provide fruit and vegetables for two local safe houses in Merivale. A vegetable garden was established, and 31 pumpkins were grown and used to make baby food and soup as well as other fruit and vegetables which were donated. Clothes and books were also collected and delivered to Battered Women’s Trust for use in their emergency centre.

Botanical artworks were produced and sold at a stall during the PTA House and Garden Tour. Money raised contributed to purchasing a greenhouse and gardening tools. The remaining greenhouse funding was generously donated by the PTA. Students are currently constructing the greenhouse, which is expected to be up in Term 2, 2020.

Just over 400 students gave time to help with the Drayton Reserve Regeneration Project, river clean ups, potting seedlings, Eco-Action planting days, distributing goods from the Rangi Reuse Depot or weed clearing projects. Rangi students helped the CCC and Botanical Gardens staff sort plastic from flowers following the mosque shootings. Students also provided morning tea for the teams helping with tributes. collected through the Rangi Reuse Depot earned income through the Terracycle programme, that is donated directly to Cool Earth, helping us lower our carbon footprint.

Rangi Girls potting seedlings.

Students made and sold beeswax wraps. Money raised will support the school to hire a beehive, produce honey on site for use in the kitchen and provide an education programme around protecting bees. A large area of blackberry was cleared in Hanmer Springs by Year 12 students while on camp, thus allowing a clearing for planting and regeneration of native plants by the local council.

The Green Market raised the profile of buying pre-loved clothing and raised $352.50 to donate to Cool Earth and protect rainforest communities. Thousands of items Our Sustainability teams thank the Rangi Ruru Board and management for their ongoing support.