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At Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand, their mission is to keep families together, positively impacting on their journey and ensuring they can focus on caring for their children undergoing medical treatment in hospital.

Ronald McDonald House® becomes a ‘home-away-from-home’ that is essential to families’ well-being, offering warmth, comfort, and a safe haven at some of the most difficult times in their lives.

Since opening the first Ronald McDonald House in 1989, they have provided much needed practical relief for over 4300 families each year free of charge – arranging a place to sleep, organising family meals, and being a friendly ear to listen on tough days.

As a social impact driven organisation, RMHC® New Zealand relies on the support of the entire community in order to provide this vital service to New Zealand families. G.J. Gardner generously supports Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand to help keep families together when they need each other most.

The Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust celebrates 50 years of serving the Greater Auckland, Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel communities this year. The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter service originally operated a Hiller 12E helicopter out of Piha run by volunteer lifeguards. The charity’s rotors started running in the summer of 1970/71. Started by the community and there for anyone in the community, New Zealand’s oldest rescue helicopter service continues to lead the way today, operating two Leonardo AW169 helicopters, one BK117 helicopter and a Rapid Response Vehicle.

Tasked to over 20,000 missions to date, the Trust continues to deliver a truly world-class rescue operation. It is the only rescue helicopter operator in New Zealand to offer Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine Doctors onboard 24/7, providing life-saving medical care usually reserved for the emergency room from the moment the chopper touches down.

No matter the mission, the charity’s commitment to every individual in their greatest time of need as well as their loved ones remains the same.

To support the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter service visit: rescuehelicopter.org.nz

Big Buddy mentoring works on the simple philosophy that boys need good male role models in their lives to become good men. For many reasons, lots of boys in New Zealand don’t have a father and while mothers do a courageous job raising boys alone, they can’t model maleness. And above all else, boys learn through modelling. Little Buddies are aged 7-14 years, although many relationships continue well beyond that.

More than 900 boys have been matched with a Big Buddy since the organisation was founded in 1997. Yet there are approximately 52,560 boys aged 7-14 living in solo parent families in New Zealand. Of these, a conservative estimate of 15% (7884) have no contact with their father. These estimates are based on 2006 Census data and overseas research.

Big Buddy has offices in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Tauranga and is striving to have a national presence to ensure they can benefit kiwi boys all over the country.

To get an idea of the positive effect Big Buddy is having, in not only the young boy’s lives but also their mothers and the Big Buddies lives, just start reading the personal experiences under the news section of their website. Countless heart felt stories describe the genuine benefit that all parties receive when working with Big Buddy.

Big Buddy receives 7% of the funding it requires from the government. The remaining to be covered by donations, and charitable organisations and foundations including: Todd Foundation, NZ Lotteries, The Trusts, ASB Community Trust, and Lion Foundation.

Big Buddy is a "Registered Community Service Provider" by Oranga Tamariki and is audited by MSD. To learn more about what Big Buddy are doing, to donate, or volunteer, visit their website.