Drop Your EastPack Bosses for Youth

At the Graeme Dingle Foundation they believe "what you have on the inside is greater than any obstacle you may face". In the spirit of that ethos, we are all making the leap, 10,000 feet out of a plane, to help raise money towards the incredible work the foundation does here in our own community. Many of our local growers, employees and families have children involved in Kiwi Can so it's a cause close to home and close to our hearts.

The Graeme Dingle Foundation run Project K, Kiwi Can, and Stars; reaching over 3,500 young people in the Bay of Plenty. These are all proven and successful school-based programmes that aim to inspire young people to reach their full potential by helping to build their self-esteem, promote good values and teach valuable life, education and health skills. It is fantastic to have them working in the Western Bay of Plenty and reaching our own community.

The four jumpers we have taking part from EastPack are Phil Karl (General Manager Operations), Alan Davidson (Site Manager Quarry Rd), Matt Bowker (Site Manager Washer Rd) and Adrian Osterman (Site Manager Collins Lane).

Phil's family has personally benefited from the Project K programme. He says, "the programmes provide the boost needed in many young people to develop some self-confidence, self-worth and expose them to people that give them some great role models."

Personal experience of our programmes, a drive to contribute to a worthy cause, and the challenge of overcoming his own fears are all motivations for Phil in completing this jump: "The skydive itself is a personal boundary for me that I wish to overcome ... Over thirty years has now passed since my only other jump. Very eventful, eventually successful but involved another jumper seriously hurting herself, a parachute failure and close encounter with electrocution!!!"

Let's hope that this jump is a lot more successful Phil!

Alan Davidson says "I would like to raise money for the Graeme Dingle Foundation so that it helps kids get opportunities they might not otherwise get, to help give them a range of life skills, and to flourish and gain confidence that anything is possible!"

And Matt Bowker was impressed in reading about the foundation and how 80% of the money raised directly supports the kids in the programme. He was also struck by how sad some of the statistics are around bullying and lack of self-confidence in our Tamariki. He says, "I’m keen to have some fun for fundraising!"

Help the four of us support this critical work and donate to our skydives. Every bit helps!