Whakatipu Greatest Needs Fund
The Greatest Need Fund was initially set up by Kaye Parker as a local response to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
45South Foundation (at the time known as Wakatipu Community Foundation) established the Greatest Needs Fund to help address gaps in central Government assistance to the most vulnerable or worst affected by Covid-19 in our community. They were unprecedented times: 6,500 people registered for welfare support via the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Emergency Operations Centre, due to extreme economic hardship. 75% of these were migrant workers, unable to get home.
The Greatest Needs Fund was designed to support front line organisations such as Salvation Army, Happiness House, and Central Lakes Family Services.
The Greatest Needs Fund was set up to help address gaps in central Government assistance to the most vulnerable or worst affected by Covid-19 in our community when NZ went into lockdown in 2020. They were unprecedented times:
At the time, a specially formed committee, led by well-known fundraiser Kaye Parker, worked behind the scenes raising money from private donors to reduce the fundraising stress on the front-line charities and agencies such as The Salvation Army, Happiness House and Central Lakes Family Service.
This was a phenomonal sucess and as a result, $1.1M was raised and then passed on to the local community supporting key initiatives such as subsidised mental health care, social workers in schools, and food support.
A small amount of residual funds have been retained to create the Greatest Needs Fund, in preparation for the next disaster to impact our region.