The Contractors for Charity Northland division donated $18,000 to the Kauri Club and the Educare Northland Sports Talent Hub following the successful annual charity boxing event held early September in Whangarei.

The Kauri Club and Northland Sports Talent Hub were set up to assist up and coming young Northland athletes to reach their sporting potential. The Kauri Club donates grants twice annually to young Northland sports people to help them with the many costs of competing nationally and internationally in their chosen sports. The Kauri Club is operated by Sport Northland and was established in 2000 after a donation to the Trust by the family of the late Garry Frew, the legendary sports editor of the Northern Advocate and icon of Northland sport. The Kauri club has donated over $200,000 worth of grants to over 450 Northland athletes during this time, some of whom have gone on to become Olympians such as Blair Tuke, Cameron Leslie, Samantha Warriner and Brooke Neal.

In more recent times the Educare Northland Sports Talent Hub was established in 2013 to assist Northland’s top young athletes who are in the pre-high performance phase of their sporting pathways with support, education and services locally in Northland. Each year a selection of athletes are given a place in the Hub where each athlete receives approximately $2,000 per year worth of free support and services over the two years they are in the Hub.

Sport Northland Chief Executive, Brent Eastwood says the donation from Contractors for Charity Northland is a big boost to the Sports Endowment Fund that has been established to increase the support that can be given to our promising young athletes. “This generous donation has seen the capital sum for this fund rise to over $200,000 – we would, of course, love to see it rise even further, which would ensure that more direct monetary support can be granted to athletes and would also see more athletes receiving services as part of the Hub. Our Sports Endowment Fund operates in partnership with the Northland Foundation, and we are confident that Northlanders will see this fund as a worthy cause when considering bequest options”.

For more information on the Sports Endowment Fund or to register your interest contact Ros Martin by email ros@northlandfoundation.org.nz or phone 09 459 6327.