Some of our young people enjoying the thrill of the IRB ride

A great afternoon was spent at Ngamotu Beach recently, even if the weather was a bit dicey! Everyone really enjoyed the game of t-ball and the tug of war and it was great to see everyone’s competitive spirit shining through. The IRB rides were a great hit with the kids and of course those yummy picnics were enjoyed by all. A huge thank you to Sport Taranaki who supplied the games and to Fitzroy Surf Club for once again providing the IRB rides. Special thanks to Brad for crewing the IRB and showing great patience - and skill - which the kids just loved. And last but not least - to the mentors for supporting this event and giving their young person a wonderful day.

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PROUDLY BY:SPONSORED TUI JOINT VENTURE PARTNERS

www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org.nz

New Plymouth - Ph(Also operating in Waitara, Inglewood, Stratford & Hawera)

: 06 759 8854

“We gratefully acknowledge our Principal Sponsors, who have been instrumental in enabling us to positively impact on children’s lives and empowering them to achieve in the future. However, this does not include all of the many community partners and generous supporters of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taranaki that we

have at a more local level, but we are no less grateful to them for their generosity and support”.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taranaki Events:Fri 4 May 2012 Big Brothers Big Sisters Staff Regional Meeting, Taupo Mon 7 May 2012 Stratford Monthly Meet, 7.00pm, Stratford Community House, Juliet Street, Stratford Tues 12 June 2012 New Plymouth Bi-Monthly Meet, 7.00pm at the Tasman Club, Octavius Place, New PlymouthWed 11 July 2012 South Taranaki Kindergarten Association present Nathan Mikaere-Wallis from The Brainwave

Trust. 7.30pm to 9.30pm, $20 per person, venue to be confirmed. Tues 31 July 2012 Mentor & Partners Evening with our guest speaker Principal Youth Court Judge, His Honour

Judge Andrew Becroft. Legends Lounge, Yarrow Stadium, time to be confirmed.

Taranaki Events: WelcomeWelcome APRIL 2012

This Space is Available for Sponsorship - Do you know of any businesses that may be interested?

Contact Paul Lampe on 759 8854 for more details

e have now settled into our new office, it’s very ‘cosy’ but we all seem to be managing! It’s been a very busy month for us here, we are currently matching our seven newly trained mentors who are all Wnervously awaiting our call! Do try to come along to the next monthly meet, hopefully you may be

able to meet some of them and share a few of your mentoring experiences.

TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival from 6 April to 15 April 2012 the surf festival guarantees an unforgettable audience and participant experience, with six competition days of the finest women's surf talent from New Zealand and around the globe, preceded with Masters, MicroGrom and Aerial surf events as a taster. See www.nzsurffestival.co.nz for more info. Discover It at Puke Ariki have a fantastic holiday programme, bookings are essential, so if you are interested, please phone 759 6060 or www.pukeariki.com for session details. Waiwhakaiho Pathway Picnic on Sun 15 April 2012 and Mangaotuku Pathway Picnic on Sun 29 April 2012 from 11.30am to 2.00pm each day. Let's Go Explore! Pathway Picnic at the Waiwhakaiho Pathway. Explore your backyard and meet your neighbours on Sunday 15 of April. Music, BBQ, family orienteering, bouncy castle and prizes to be won! Bring a picnic hamper and your blanket. FREE Event. Contact the Let's Go Team on 759 6060 or www.letsgo.org.nz for more information. Richmond Cottage at Puke Ariki is open weekends and public holidays 11.00am - 3.30pm. Visit the historic Richmond Cottage, first built in 1853 and rebuilt on its present site in 1962. This has been a home to a pioneer family and also a school. Entry is free. For more information phone Puki Ariki on 759 6060 or

Ruru Scavenger Hunts until Sun 05 May 2012 at Puke Ariki. Our little Ruru has been busy laying scavenger hunts all over Puke Ariki. There are five different themed hunts to choose from; Food and food for thought, Fashion, craft and design, Suffering and endurance, Mysteries of Puke Ariki and Coming to my senses. Don't forget to collect your special Ruru Badge or sticker when you are done!Back To The Future – Pecha Kucha, Fri 20 Apr 2012 from 7.00pm – 9.30pm at Puke Ariki Foyer, New Plymouth. Back To The Future will feature people from very different worlds envisioning the future. Their backgrounds will include digital technology, oil/gas, farming, youth leadership, the economy, race relations, journalism and social work. FREE Event. Contact 759 6060 for more info. Safe Fun In The Sun, Sat 21 Apr 2012 from 10.30am - 12.00pm at the Noel and Melva Yarrow Education Room, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth. Margaret Amor presents a session on having fun in the water - paddling, swimming, surfing, respect for the moana and heat stroke awareness. Families will have fun learning about different techniques for surviving in the sea. Please bring a hat and towel. Bookings essential, phone 7596060. FREE Event.

www.pukeariki.com

Ngamotu Beach Day

Jan and Maurice with their little brother Deacon enjoying a picnic lunch

Boys vs girls in the tug-o-war

Mentoring Parents ProgrammeDue to the success of the Mentoring Parents Programmes which were held in 2011, we offered a five week follow-up programme for all of the original participants. This follow-up programme enabled Julie Avery from LifePsychol the opportunity to add to her previous teachings on parenting. These programmes have been an overwhelming success, with the feedback from all of the Mums attending being incredibly pos i t ive. We would l ike to gratefu l ly acknowledge Julie Avery from LifePsychol who was the facilitator, and The Ministry of Social Development Community Response Fund who funded this great initiative.Picture: Julie (far right) with the participants of the Mentoring Parents Programme

Richard and his little brother Jamie enjoying the sounds of WOMAD

Colin with his little brother Dion who recently celebrated their 3 year match anniversary

Start SomethingStart Something

Congratulations to our recent matchesCongratulations to our recent matches

Sheila with her new little sister Shechinah- CB, NP Nancy with her new little sister Roxanne - CB, NP

Stephanie with her new little sister Samantha - CB, NP

CongratulationsCongratulationsTo Margaret Butterworth and Stacey who are our second match to reach their 4 YEAR match anniversary this month. Awesome! Congratulations also to Teu Cash and Hamuera who celebrate their 3 YEAR match, along with the following matches who celebrate their 2 YEAR match anniversary this month:Mark Louis & Helen Alldridge and LokaBen Tarrant and AaronAlex Nash and Sarahphineand to the following matches who celebrate their 1 YEAR match anniversary this month:Nic Willis and WikiAlly Hammond and LeilynAmy Hitchcock and ChloeThese milestones real ly are a wonderful achievement, and one that we know has taken much time and dedication from you and your families. A huge well done to everyone, and congratulations!

Match ProfileHelen and Ruby

In June 2012, Ruby and I will celebrate our two year match anniversary. Since we were first matched, I have noticed that she takes more care in her appearance and seems a bit more confident. The biggest difference is that she is able to concentrate on a task for longer than 5 minutes – yesterday we played Scrabble for half an hour…record breaking!! She is getting a little more gracious at losing but still has a way to go though! Ruby has taught me to go with the flow and not be upset or stressed when things change at short notice. Ruby makes me think when she comes out with some of the most profound sayings at times as if she's quoting from a self-help book – who knows where she picks that up from but it makes for some interesting discussions between us. Our favourite activity to do together is swimming in the river at Corbett Park – complete with goggles & fins!! Some highlights for me since being matched with Ruby are hearing / seeing how excited she is to see me when I pick her up from after school care, being invited to go to her graduation from primary

school – and hearing that one of the parents present said that Ruby's face lit up when s h e s a w I w a s t h e r e . Yesterday's outing has to be a highlight because Ruby, for the first time in 18months, wasn't her usual well behaved self and her behaviour was more like how I imagine she really is….is that good? I'm hoping it's a sign she trusts me more and isn't trying to impress me. Helen Hosie

Helen and Ruby on their match day in June 2010

Our School Based programme has had a busy start to the year. We now have five matches at Highlands Intermediate as a number of our young people have transitioned from primary school this year. We would also like to welcome three new schools onto our School Based programme, Sacred Heart Girls College, Manukorihi intermediate in Waitara and Marfell Community School. Thank you to the staff at these schools for making the transition a smooth one. Recently our school based mentors caught up with each other for morning tea and a discussion of how the new school year is starting out for them and their young person. Everyone is adjusting well to their new school environment and the different challenges it b r i n g s . M e n t o r s commented on how much their young people had matured since beginning at their new schools. All in all it was a very successful get together and we plan on

meeting again later in the year.

School Based Update

Mentors Judy & Anna with their little sisters Sabrina and Ashley at a recent activity

Mentor Monthly MeetingNew Plymouth’s next bi-monthly meet is on Tuesday 12 June at 7.00pm, at the Tasman Club, Octavius Place, New Plymouth.Stratford‘s next meeting is on Monday 7 May at 7.00pm, in the Stratford Community House, Juliet Street, Stratford. Although these meetings are not compulsory, we do encourage you to attend. It’s a good place to share ideas and resources, and to meet your new fellow mentors.

Judge Andrew Becroft

His Honour Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft has agreed to be the guest speaker at our Mentor & Partner evening in July. Judge Becroft is an interesting speaker with a wealth of knowledge on young people, especially in the area of youth offending. This is definitely an event not to be missed, so please book the evening of Tuesday 31 July in your dairies, more details to follow...

Did You Know....

Quote of the Month: Children are likely to live up to what you believe

of them. ~ Lady Bird Johnson

...that Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taranaki currently have 105 matches, with another 5 matches planned for the n e x t f e w w e e k s ? Nationwide, Big Brothers Big Sisters has over 500 current matches with over 280,000 matches worldwide! Isn’t that brilliant!...that we all have new email addresses? Don’t worry, we can still access e m a i l s f r o m o u r o l d addresses. The change has been made to b r ing uniformity between all the Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies within NZ. You will be able to contact us using our new addresses e.g

You may have already noticed that we are e-mailing you from these addresses. ...that we are no longer on the second floor of the Atkinson Building? We can now be found on the Fourth F loor of the Atk inson Building. This will be our temporary office until we make the move into the new Pol ice Stat ion in approximately 15 months time. ...that the South Taranaki Kindergarten Association is bringing Nathan Mikaere-Wallis to New Plymouth? You can hear Nathan on Wed 11 July 2012, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. Nathan is a lecturer in Human D e v e l o p m e n t a t t h e Christchurch College of Education, and will be p r e s e n t i n g o n b r a i n development in children and young people. Cost will be $20 per person. ...that if you are a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters that you can have free access to Tawhiti Museum in Hawera? Just show your mentor ID card....you can get a reduced rate at the YMCA to use the climbing wall? Great for those wet afternoons when you have a very energetic young person!

firstname.lastname@bigbrothersbigsisters.org.nz.

What is the mentors' role?It seems simple at first, the notion of being a mentor: someone who spends time with a young person. But once you are in the mentor role, you may find yourself in situations where you are uncertain about your part in the relationship. Is it appropriate to provide discipline when my young person is out of line? What if I suspect my little brother or sister is experiencing trouble at home – what is my responsibility? How can I have the most positive impact on my young person? There is no one answer concerning what your role is or is not. Your Case Manager will be able to provide clearer direction for you. a friend, a role model, a confidant, a nurturer of possibilities.

a mentor to the family, a social worker or doctor, ........a saviour.

You Are: You Are

Not: