KiaOra Vancouver is an ex pat group of kiwis keen to help fellow kiwis feel at home there, keep informed and have fun … and fundraise for causes like penguin conservation back home!
They organise events and social gatherings including Waitangi Day, a Summer picnic, and a Christmas party as well as providing tips and hits for living in Vancouver along with work and travel related information with an overall aim of joining kiwis together.
On Saturday February 8th, 2020 Kia Ora Vancouver Community Society hosted their tenth annual Waitangi Day Celebration and Fundraiser at The Blarney Stone bar in downtown Vancouver, Canada. As part of the festivities, their major sponsor Air New Zealand donated a round-trip airline ticket to New Zealand which always helps to draw large crowds.
One of the KiaOra Vancouver Directors, Robyn Tucker-Peck explains:
“This event continues to attract hundreds of New Zealand expats and honorary New Zealanders in Greater Vancouver to celebrate this significant day in New Zealand’s history and to raise funds for a worthy cause.
“We now have a large following of over 4,000 members and our mission is to engage our members with information and services in Vancouver. Supported by Twitter, Instagram and our newsletter, the Waitangi Day event is a targeted audience for New Zealand organisations to introduce their products and to grow or spread their brand.
“The success of our 2020 Waitangi Day event was largely due to the contributions of our sponsors, who went out of their way to support us with donations and products. Funds raised were used to help two charities in New Zealand: “Kiwis for Kiwi” who supports the conservation of the kiwi bird in New Zealand, and “The West Coast Penguin Trust” who support the blue penguin.”
This is the second year that KiaOra Vancouver have supported the West Coast Penguin Trust with fundraising at the Waitangi Day event and they raised a very generous $1500 for the Trust’s work with blue penguins through $1 per Steinlager stubbie donations!
Trust Manager, Inger Perkins, welcomed the donation:
“This donation is very useful and very timely. The Trust has been fortunate to engage Alastair Judkins and his penguin detection conservation dog, Mena, for some essential penguin survey work as well as visits to some of the schools we are working with. This wonderful donation from KiaOra Vancouver is a huge help in bringing Alastair and Mena over for two weeks work with the Trust and we’re enormously grateful to Robyn and her fellow volunteers all the way over in Vancouver.”
Robyn added:
“Our Board Directors all share a common goal – Join Kiwis together. We come from all areas of industry, and Business, are all professionals, and volunteer our time. We do this out of love for our New Zealand heritage and the desire to bring like-minded kiwis and friends together for fun, business, socializing and networking.”
Thank you KiaOra Vancouver!!
We have a fabulous opportunity to maintain and extend our penguin conservation projects, from research into threats to practical solutions, education and advocacy.
