Sisters’ fundraising efforts marching on

U12 Buckingham Guards (in front) are (from left) Shylah Bevan Shaw, Kailer Fontaine (middle) and Zahara-lee Fontaine.

It may have been a case of love at first sight for Kailer and Zahara-lee Fontaine when the sisters discovered marching. But fundraising efforts to get the girls to the NZ National Marching Competition in Christchurch this month may now be hampered, with donations now directed towards the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, which wreaked havoc in the area three weeks ago.

“Given the recent life changing events of the cyclone, it’s going to be a bit hard with fundraising due to the extra financial stress which we fully understand the huge impact that has had,” says Kailer and Zahara-lee’s mother Kristel.

The marching sisters have been hard at work raising money the old-fashioned way, collecting pinecones and running a raffle with the top prize of a $100 Pak’nSave voucher.

“In the past we have done a donut raffle with Mama Donuts, batton up tickets, Christmas raffle and bucket collection in town,” says 13-year-old Napier Girl’s High School student Zahara-lee.

The girls are trying to raise $2000 for their trip to the three-day competition, to be held at the Christchurch Arena.

“If we go over our goal it will go towards the rest of our team.”

Zahara-lee’s foray into marching began when she received a pamphlet at school last year.

“I looked into it at home. It looked like a very interesting sport to join. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and really wanted to join.”

Although Zahara-lee is 13, she chose to join the U12 team and hopes to be selected for the U16 team next year which will be travelling to Australia to compete in the Australia & New Zealand DrillDance & Marching Tatoo. The U12 Buckingham Guards team had their last local marching competition last weekend and is now the current Hawke’s Bay champion.

Sister Kailer, who is a Year 7 student at Tamatea Intermediate School, says she went along to the Buckingham Guards U12 team’s training one day and after a few hours wanted to join.

“I really enjoyed it - the experience of it all, the training and new friendships we have made. And going to competitions in Hamilton and Wellington and the local ones we have had in Napier.”

The team usually trains twice a week on Sunday mornings but has had to step things up leading to the nationals.

“We do extra training at home, and we had a camp trip in the January school holidays for a week where we also did extra training,” Kailer says.

Both girls are looking forward to the experience of their first nationals during their first season of marching and say although learning a new sport has been challenging, the cyclone has meant there will be new challenges ahead.

“We were meant to go to Hamilton for another competition but due to the cyclone we couldn’t. But also with no power and cellphone service we had no training. But we were able to train on Monday. It was great to see our team again.”

To make a donation to Zahara-lee and Kristel’s trip visit the Buckingham Guards on Facebook, Kristel Maree Fontaine’s Facebook page or email Kristel on kfontaine22@gmail.com.