St Bede’s College, Christchurch- Awa Run 2023

$2,632 donated

Given by 63 generous donors in 9 weeks

Fundraising for Young Neighbours Charitable Trust to reduce educational inequality by running the length of the Whanganui River.

Nationwide

The Awa Run is back for 2023! The Awa Run was started by Cullinane College (Whanganui) in 2017 with the idea of gathering year ten students from the nine schools of the National Network of Marist Schools (NNMS). This event raises funds for ‘Next Door,’ an initiative that seeks to reduce educational inequality in Aotearoa which is run by Young Neighbours Charitable Trust.

Across three days, approximately 60 year ten students and staff will run from Raetihi to Whanganui following along the beautiful and historic Whanganui River Road. Participants will be running 20km daily in ‘legs’ of 5km at a time. The Whanganui River Road is remote, rugged, and isolated. It begins by Mount Ruapehu and twists and turns its way down to Pipiriki, where it then follows alongside the Whanganui River ‘Te Awa Tupua’ before the final run into Cullinane College.

While students will be challenged by the sheer physical endurance needed to complete the event, they will also be supported by local hapori and marae that will house, feed, and educate them on the history of the local area.

The Charity Run has been organised for the purpose of raising money to support a number of small and isolated communities in the Central North Island. By supporting one of the young participants running in this event, you will be providing funds that will ultimately contribute to the education of a number of young people in communities who have little in the way of financial

resources to promote and enrich the education of their rangatahi.

E rere kau mai te awa nui

Mai I te Kāhui Maunga ki Tangaroa

Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au!

As the river flows from the mountain to the sea,

I am the river, and the river is me!

National Network of Marist Schools' involvement (page creator)

NNMS is a youth development organisation that works throughout Marist Schools in Aotearoa. We are passionate about helping young people to understand the big picture of their lives, the practicalities of leadership and the imperatives of social justice.

Our page is closing soon! 12 December 2023

Kia ora!

Our pages are all closing this Friday the 15th of December so we wanted to reach out to let you know we are beyond grateful for all of your support.

All students ran approximately 50km's total, with a couple of students running closer to 75km's. It was a fantastic few days and we are beyond proud of the students, the staff and our team who participated. We also want to extend a huge thank you to the team from Cullinane College who helped organise this event and who kept our bellies full and spirits high over the duration of the run! Another huge thank you to the whānau and hau kāinga along the way who welcomed us onto their Marae, cheered us on and who fuelled our staff with much needed caffeine breaks (stop at Matahiwi Gallery and Angel Louise Cafe if you want a delicious coffee along the awa)!

In total, our students and schools raised $13,546.16 on our give a little pages (this doesn't include fundraising from some of the schools that will be calculated once our pages are closed). That is a huge effort and will significantly impact our ‘Next Door’ initiative that seeks to reduce educational inequality in Aotearoa which is run by the Young Neighbours Charitable Trust.

So once again, and we cannot stress this enough - THANK YOU!

We cannot wait to do it all again next year.

Ngā manaakitanga, The Young Marist Team.

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