Getting on with it: Paying it forward pays off

Pukekohe resident Robbie Ritchie. Photo / Doug Sherring

This is the first of six finalists in the Bell Tea/Herald on Sunday Getting On With It search for special, ordinary people.

His was judged most compelling story in a quest to find the person who best expressed the quintessential Kiwi trait of getting on with things - never mind the obstacles.

Bell Tea has been helping Kiwis roll up their sleeves and get on with it for generations and Getting On With It was a search for people who have done just that. The key was a positive attitude and tackling the hard slog of everyday life.

The judges had a tough time choosing from six finalists, all with tremendous stories of courage, doggedness, persistence and never letting the downturns and even tragedies of life stop them from, well, getting on with it...

Like Ta'alogo Crichton - who endured the death of a husband and son, battled her own illness but still found time to help others. Or Colin Hallett, the 80-year-old who devoted the past 10 years to opening up tramping tracks on Te Aroha mountain; Julie Scott, the Starship nurse and single mum with five kids who somehow found time to study, run half-marathons, and serve on the local primary school board.

Donald Park twice bounced back from the brink of financial ruin at the hands of others and enjoyed a sporting life, including wrestling, road and cross-country running. Then there was Jamie Kidd. At 21 he had a car accident and was left unable to walk and with a gloomy medical forecast. He proved the doctors wrong, then nursed his mum through a similar ordeal.

But it was Robbie Ritchie's ability to cheat death and to set up an organisation to help others do the same that won the day.

Diagnosed with a rare brain condition at the age of 14, he was told he would die young. Twenty years later, in 2013, he was still going strong and specialists in New Zealand still had no treatment for his condition.

Then Germany made a huge advance in the treatment of brain conditions but the operation would cost $200,000. His home town of Pukekohe swung behind him, raising $100,000 within six days. While recovering, Robbie had the idea of passing on that generosity.

"It came to me that if someone needed $100,000 for a lifesaving treatment, it would only take a $1 donation from 100,000 people. It was just a matter of letting people know."

One Dollar Warriors was born, launched this year, persuading people to give just a little to raise a lot and mean a lot to those who need it most. Richie says: "I just want One Dollar Warriors to maintain momentum and for others to be helped."

For getting the gift of life and passing it on to others, Robbie wins the Bell Tea Getting On With It award - and all finalists also receive a year's free supply of tea.