Whanganui life affirming fundraiser a shining success

Aydie Holland of One Trick Pony performing at the Shine City Choose Life fundraiser. Photo / Gail Imhoff

The women of Shine City Whanganui are celebrating the success of their first big fundraiser held earlier this month.

A night of dining and live entertainment complemented by an auction and a mini market at Frank Bar & Eatery raised $6500 towards building esteem programmes for young people.

The event was sponsored by Gilmore Homes and Builders, Mike Smith Plastering, Frank Bar & Eatery and Lamp Studios, with spot prizes and auction items donated by other local businesses.

"We were overwhelmed by the level of support," said organiser Vanessa Paikea.

The Choose Life event had been six months in the planning and was the first of its kind run by the charity.

"The Choose Life tag is a response to youth suicides in the Whanganui region.

"People may get it confused with the anti-abortion lobby and we are thinking that 'Choose your Life' might be a better slogan because it is about choosing to love the life you have."

The organising team have been affected by the recent suicide of a young person in their circle and say they are responding by planning a programme they hope will make a positive difference in the lives of young people.

"We have been getting great outcomes from our Shine Women and Shine Girls courses for intermediate age girls but we need to develop a different programme for high school students," says organiser Kath Gilmore.

The team plan to run a pilot programme in Term 2 next year and hope that the participants will help design the format.

"We want to put a lot of good stuff in and go with a strength-based approach," says Gilmore.

Shine City is a Christian group although the women say their programmes are based on humanitarian rather than religious values.

"Some people feel uncomfortable about Christianity and that is okay because our programmes are designed to support everyone and there is no obligation to practise Christianity.

"We want to help build fences at the top of the cliff and aim for zero suicides in Whanganui."

Shine City Whanganui also run Strength programmes for boys and Shine Creative for women.