FROM A HOUSE TO A HOME

I remember four years ago, we were sitting in the living room of my crowded Manurewa home - six South Aucklanders with a vision to transform the lives of our Pacific and Māori families. Today, that vision has become BROWN PRIDE NZ - an established social enterprise celebrating one year of service and the movement in to a new property.

ABOUT US: In the last 12 months, we have used fitness, arts and community service to uplift South Aucklanders and the wider community. In this time, more than 500 of our Pacific and Māori brothers and sisters have allowed us to lead them through their fitness journey. We have also engaged in regional community outreach initiatives like World Homeless Day, Winter Homeless Outreach, volunteered at local food banks, facilitated youth programs and more. For this, we say thank you - to all of our BROWN PRIDE NZ village!

Since starting this campaign, we feel grateful and super blessed to announce that with the help of so many of our members, we have secured a lease on a property to call the BROWN PRIDE Centre in Manukau, Auckland. This has been a village-like effort and so we thank you again for your continued alofa.

In saying that, we would love your help to turn our house in to a home.

Since securing this lease, brothers and sisters from our community have already offered to start renovations on the property and our hearts are full. However, a significant barrier to our continued growth is that we do not have a space that is fit-for-purpose. To ensure that the property is fit for purpose, there are a few updates required to the structure. This includes:

• Updating the mezzanine structure so that it is safe enough for upstairs use and training below

• Safe and high quality lighting for visibility

• Equipment for community training

As we work towards providing quality space, we are currently organizing our Christmas Foodbank event and expanding our fitness programme to serve more, centralise all of our youth and community initiatives like mentoring and interpersonal development, as well as provide a safe and welcoming space for our families to unite for the betterment of our futures.

We have a comprehensive short-term, mid-term and long-term plan for the Brown Pride village and making the required updates to this property is a step in the right direction. Therefore, every cent of this fundraiser will go towards the updates mentioned above.

We appreciate any contribution and value all equally.

We are Pacific - We are Māori - We are South Auckland - We are here and ready to serve you!

Alofa atu,

Johnnie, Peter, Tino, Taalili, Jairus and Reginald.