Discover: Realising Potential

DISCOVER COMMUNITY PROJECT AND PRESENTATIONS gThe task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there."" - John Buchan A core component of Discover? is the encouragement of youth civic engagement. We recognise that young women are key stakeholders in the community and capable of contributing talent and vision to social change. To achieve this objective mentees were required to complete a community service project. The purposes of this project were for the young women to: ? Understand that effective leadership begins with service. ? Heighten their awareness of community issues and the community services that are available. ? Recognise that they can make a positive difference to a personfs life or organisation by offering their service. ? Recognise that their individual gifts, talents and abilities can be used to serve others in their local community. ? Apply their newly learnt skills from Discover? within the community. ? Understand the importance of team work and that combined efforts can achieve great successes. The young women were placed in two teams of five and assigned various positions within their teams. These roles included presenters, leaders and scribes/organisers. As a team they were then required to develop an advocacy, fundraising or community service project which they undertook in July and August. The projects are as follows: Miramar South Primary School Reading Programme Miramar South Primary School is a low decile school with a high proportion of students whose second language is English. To assist these students the school requires specialised literacy resources. This team chose to fundraise for the Miramar South Primary School by conducting a raffle and sausage sizzle at Wellington East Girls College. With the support from local businesses the team raised $800.00 for the reading programme which will allow the purchase of 80 new books. The team worked incredibly hard and their designated leader successfully encouraged and coordinated her team to achieve an excellent result. Positive Women: Supporting Women and Families Living in New Zealand with HIV/AIDS The second team chose a combined advocacy/fundraising project for Positive Women, the aims of which are to: ? To provide a support network for women and families living with HIV or AIDS ? To raise awareness of HIV and AIDS in the community through educational programmes with a focus on prevention and de-stigmatisation. At the presentation evening held on the 21st August the young women coordinated a presentation on the work of Positive Women to an audience of 30+ people. This included a heartfelt and powerful speech by Beate Lutz about her experience living with HIV. Beate was overwhelmed by the mentees commitment towards their cause and the audience was touched by Beatefs courage and moving testimony. The mentees also shared the story of Mel Fraser, a 25 year old woman from Upper Hutt who is HIV positive. In addition to advocating for Positive Women by sharing these stories and displaying promotional material at their school the mentees have also fundraised for Positive Women. By selling wristbands, red ribbons and T Shirts they have raised $100.00. A bake sale planned for September will also add to their fundraising total. Well done to our? inspiring young leaders!