Recipient Story: Plunket

We all know Plunket, and we all know what they do, or do we? Plunket do more than just health checks on tamariki. They provide a host of other community services and programmes.

One of these programmes is a water confidence course that provides essential water safety and swim education to whānau with young children. These courses are crucial for equipping children with life-saving skills while giving parents the confidence to take their children to local pools.

“With all the different water-ways in our area, water confidence is a really important skill to have.” - Louise Hayley, Plunket

This year Plunket ran eight-week courses consisting of five different groups in age and skills with their fabulous tutor Clare Connelly, in both Temuka & Geraldine. The courses had great engagement and involved mums, dads and grandparents, who all attended with their little people.

“This was a wonderful course to encourage confidence and engagement in the water. My child can now happily have water on her face and head, collect items floating on the water, splash and play with other babies.” - Parent

Louise says it is fantastic to see the confidence of tamariki in the water, and to watch the confidence of their caregivers grow. It was also heartwarming to see the connections made between families who have now started going to CBay together, and have play dates.

Interestingly, many migrant families, for whom English was not their first language, participated and found that the language barrier was minimal since swimming is a universal language.

All together, 75 families completed the courses with some having two to three children in multiple groups. Many said they would never have been able to afford the cost of multiple children’s swimming lessons.

“We understand that with the cost of living many families may not have been able to attend if it weren’t for the support of the Aoraki Foundation.” - Louise Hayley, Plunket

We love the work Plunket is doing in our community to improve the safety and well-being of tamariki. Ka pai!

How the Aoraki Foundation helped:

Plunket South Canterbury received a grant of $3,000 from the Miller General Impact Fund to run water confidence courses in Geraldine & Temuka