John Kenel
We're proud to support a range of individuals and organisations contributing to a better wider community.
Megan Gifford – New Zealand Weightlifting Representative
Assured Property is thrilled to be a supporter and sponsor of Megan Gifford, a New Zealand weightlifting representative and strong hopeful for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A Waikato local, Megan's first weightlifting competition was in 2013.
Dedicated to her training and hard work, she is now the second-highest ranked female weightlifter in New Zealand, and is the proud holder of six current national records.
Megan injured her ACL only a few weeks before she was due to head to the 2018 Commonwealth games, leaving her questioning whether her weightlifting dreams were vanishing.
However, after months of grit, rehab and a grueling training schedule, Megan is back stronger than ever – and looking forward to the push for qualifying for the 2020 Olympics.
The road ahead is not an easy one, with Megan having to travel to six International Weightlifting Federation events and qualify as the top-ranked U64kg competitor by April 2020. Megan is not shrinking from the challenge, and is striving to meet her goals of representing her country at the Olympics.
Assured Property are delighted to be joining Megan and sponsoring her journey to reach her dreams.
To find out more about Megan's story – check out this short video bio on her life and focus for the future, it's a great watch!
Osteopathic Children's Foundation Project
Assured is proud to support the Osteopathic Children's Foundation Project. This worthwhile charity is starting here in Hamilton to help children from lower socio-economic groups access much-needed osteopathic care. See the message below from our good friend, Rob Hart, about how osteopathic care helped his daughter.
"Our friend Oliver Russell is an amazing osteopath based in Hamilton. Ollie helped our daughter Lucy recover from a series of heart operations several years back and made a huge difference in our lives.
Ollie shared a vision with us last year. He wanted to provide free monthly osteopathic clinics for children across New Zealand. The plan was to join with other osteopaths and volunteer their time so that lower socioeconomic groups could receive the help they need without having to pay. We have done a huge amount of work since then and our first monthly clinic will be at Kirikiriroa Marae in Hamilton East in September. We have other fabulous osteopath trustees on our trust board from other main centres across New Zealand so that we can in time bring this to other areas once we have the first clinic up and running. This is a truly beautiful and well-intentioned project."
If you would like to join us and give your support, please head over to their Give A Little page
NZME Special Children's Christmas Party
The Special Children's Christmas Party, in association with the Cancer Society, provides an unforgettable experience for disabled and disadvantaged children in our community.
We were so impressed with what Good Neighbour Projects are doing that we bought them a car, to make it easier for volunteer drivers to deliver lunches and run errands without having to take the van, which was difficult for some volunteers to drive.
The Good Neighbours Project
The Good Neighbour Projects aim is to be a catalyst for change, to help provide a hand-up.
They provide many excellent services from their Drop-In Centre but not everyone in need will always come in. Through their Loaves & Fishes and FullFill projects, they go to the community rather than waiting for people in need to come to them. Loaves and Fishes are about delivering lunches to school children whose teachers have identified them as coming to school frequently without food. A team of volunteers make packed lunches and drive them by midday to 15 Hamilton schools.
FullFill is a community van that goes out to a different part of Hamilton each weeknight. It leaves at 5:30 pm and returns around 7:30 pm having visited from 3-5 streets. Depending on the time of the year, from 200 to over 400 people come out to the FullFill van each week. The volunteer teams that go out in the FullFill van never cancel on account of the weather. Even on the most bitter winter nights people still come out to the FullFill van.
We were so impressed with what Good Neighbour Projects are doing that we bought them a car, to make it easier for volunteer drivers to deliver lunches and run errands without having to take the van, which was difficult for some volunteers to drive. The new car has also helped them increase the number of schools they can reach each day.
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