Falcons do the hard yards for charity

Peter Jones

If the Marlborough Boys’ College First XV thought they were going to put their feet up over their bye weekend in the Miles Toyota premiership, they were well off the mark.

The squad decided to undertake a fundraiser for the I Am Hope charity, spending 15 hours last Sunday rolling through a continuous loop of exercises and challenges.

The action took place at the MBC gymnasium, the boys beginning at 5am and winding it up at 8pm.

At last count $6000 had been raised for the charity, each participant finding 10 people to sponsor them for $1 an hour.

A steady succession of family members, former players, and helpers came to offer support and sometimes join in the activities throughout the day, including members of the victorious Marl- a passionate haka from the Falcons.

For those wanting to donate, MBC First XV manager Matt Large is the contact, his phone number 021495065.

This was the first 15-hour challenge, with Matt suggesting, given its success, it may become a regular part of the team’s season.

Meanwhile, the players returned to action on the pitch at the weekend, beating Timaru Boys’ High School 28-14 in Timaru. They currently sit sixth on the Miles

SuperKids holiday programme has been running for the past 27 years – and last Friday saw plenty of imagination for their ‘under the sea’ dress up day. With a variety of scuba divers, jellyfish, mermaids and everything in between, the costume parade saw the kids in a range of fantastic getups.

SuperKids runs three times a year with 450 kids attending over last week’s four days of fun, and Elim Church associate pastor Amber Watson and her volunteer assistants are constantly kept on the go putting on activities to interest any child.

“A lot of the volunteers are teenagers, and they really love serving their community with the bonus of enjoying all of the fun activities after the younger kids go home at 1pm,” says Amber.

“Some kids that have aged out of the programme come back as junior leaders after spending a few programmes with us, and we love to see them progress through using us as work experience or just to connect with the next generation.

“The heart of this all is our volunteer leaders and we’re so grateful to have them – we try to ensure any family can afford coming along by keeping it at $15 per day, so couldn’t do any of this without them.”

16-year-old Alex Roberst experienced his first programme as a fully-fledged leader this week after spending the last two years as a junior leader, a position for 13 and 14 year olds

“Since I was 5, I’ve been coming to SuperKids and it’s great to be a leader for the first time. I always loved coming here since I was little, and its great giving back so these kids can have the same great experiences I did.”

Volunteer Tracy Pigou has seen every side of the SuperKids programme, having joined as a kid, returned as a leader and ending up running the programme before taking a step back to spend more time with her young family.

“I’ve come full circle – I had a blast here as a kid and while running it, and now bringing my own kids along and seeing them having just as much fun is incred- ible.”

“I remember Alex as a 5-year-old and it’s great to have seen him become a fantastic young man.”

The next SuperKids holiday programme is from the Tuesday 3rd to Friday 6th October at Elim Church, 26 Burleigh Road, Blenheim.