Sponsorship – Sharing My Success

 

Giving back to my community, and to the world, both with time and with money, is important to me.

Leaders instituted the Leaders for Education scheme, whereby we donate $250 to a school when we sell a home. I am proud to be sponsoring three schools and two preschools through this scheme.

At Onslow College, I sponsor the Deborah East-Anastasi Scholarship, which contributes to overseas travel for students representing New Zealand or the school in a cultural, academic or sporting field.

When I got my moving van as a courtesy vehicle for my clients, it opened up a whole new opportunity to fundraise for charity: when clients don’t need it, I lend my van to other people in exchange for a donation to charity, or direct to charitable groups such as the Refugee & Migrant Service.  This money has so far gone to various schools; SPCA;  Foundation of the Blind, and Hadassah International, a non-partisan hospital in Jerusalem.

Deborah East in Cambodia with the Volunteer Service AbroadIn 2008 I went to Cambodia with the VSA Volunteer Service Abroad Adventure programme.  On my return, I arranged to have 2000 eco shopping bags made as part of an aid project training young women in a rural village in north-east Cambodia to run their own sewing businesses.

As a member of Zonta International I have been involved in local projects through them such as helping run an annual clothing sale for the Women’s New Horizons Trust to raise money for scholarships for second-chance education for women; fundraising for the Upper Hutt Teen Parents’ School; and fundraising for overseas projects such as a literacy project for women & girls in Afghanistan, and helping HIV+ women in Africa start businesses.

Deborah collecting Daffodil DayI am a member of the SPCA Dog Squad, which entails collecting for SPCA outside supermarkets, accompanied by my dogs, several Saturdays a year. I also do street collections for Women’s Refuge, Rape Crisis Centre, White Ribbon Day, and Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day.

I help run a luncheon for an elderly group once a month, and drive the members to events when needed.

I sponsor a Tibetan refugee child, Tensin, in Darhamsala, India, through a volunteer-run Buddhist organization, Tibetan Children Relief Society of NZ.

If you would like to know more about how you can help any of these worthy organizations, just ask me.