giving back
Working with others for change is one of the strongest facets of leadership. SUZANNE McFADDEN meets two aspirational women using their skills, knowledge and compassion to give back.
Julie Chapman
Julie Chapman has to hold back the tears when a little boy at a south Auckland school throws his arms around her legs, and thanks her for the first pair of shoes he’s ever owned. Or when another boy in Rotorua tells her he had red soup for dinner; the “soup” the cooking water from the previous night’s meal of cocktail sausages. Emotions run high most days for Chapman, co-founder and CEO of charitable trust KidsCan, in her mission to overcome child poverty in New Zealand. There have been countless special moments: like the day in March, when 500 kids from Takanini Primary donned the rain jacket, shoes and socks given to them by the Warriors rugby league side. And a fair share of ordeals and stories of sorrow too, since Chapman (nee Helson) started the not-for-profit organisation in her Auckland garage eight years ago. But the 2008 Blake Leader has no regrets.
Chapman entered the world of altruism by accident. Working as “the fax girl” for a stationery company, she went to night school to get a marketing diploma, before working for the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, then a string of other non-profit organisations. She decided to go it alone after reading media reports of New Zealand children going without the basics. “I decided to start an organisation that would meet the needs of our children,” she says. “Starting was the hardest part. It was scary at times, but thrilling and exhilarating to get out there to sell the concept and raise the money, so the dream could become a reality.” KidsCan got off the ground with $40,000 seed funding from Guardian Trust, and Chapman started working with schools to identify what children needed. From August to December in 2005, KidsCan raised $600,000.
“People were shocked to learn what was happening in New Zealand; and happening 15 minutes down the road from them,” Chapman says. She had the skills to run a sustainable non-profit organisation: “I’m good at coming up with new and fresh ideas. I can talk to people, and get them to understand. I have an absolute belief in the cause. And I have tenacity, which goes a long way.” She scored a coup in signing up KidsCan as the official charity of the All Blacks for four years; the Warriors have now picked up the reins. And in 2009, she resurrected Telethon – an “amazing journey” which truly tested Chapman’s leadership skills. She and her KidsCan staff received “nasty emails and threats” after media reports claimed only 18 cents of every dollar in the $1.94 million raised would go to children. “I had to call on all of my leadership skills and inner strength to deal with it. It was hard getting out of bed the next morning, but I knew
I had a team of good people waiting for me,” says Chapman, who proved 80c in every dollar went to the children. With the “Support a New Zealand Child” project, a $15 a month donation feeds a child for a year and gives them a pair of shoes, two pairs of socks and a raincoat. KidsCan aims to feed 7000 children in 339 low decile schools this year. The long-term goal is that by 2016, no child in a Kiwi school will go hungry. This year KidsCan is also looking at children’s health - running a pilot in Kaitaia with Dr Lance O’Sullivan, treating strep throat and skin infections for 2000 children in 14 Far North schools. Massey University research has found KidsCan programmes have increased attendance in schools, reduced social issues like bullying and theft, and improved learning ability and self-esteem. “I see my role as being a voice for those children, who are often treated as invisible. But my ultimate goal is that one day, KidsCan won’t need to exist,” Chapman says. Then, the “mum” to three dogs and four cats, would turn her attention to the welfare of animals.
Julie Chapman, Blake Leader
22 | LEADERSHIP Celebrating great New Zealanders
LEADERSHIP Celebrating great New Zealanders | 23