Kids With Arthritis NZ needs to fundraise in order to provide the current and future events and programmes for our New Zealand network of children with arthritis and their families.
We currently run Christmas functions in the main centres and some regional towns. These are made possible by a generous annual donation from the Hugo Charitable Trust.
We are keen to run future events and programmes for families so that we can focus on issues that currently impact the children with arthritis, their siblings, their parents, and the dynamics of the families. These will only be possible if we can raise the necessary funding.
The outcomes and benefits of running more events and programmes together with the ongoing support and networking that KWANZ provides are as follows:
– Better informed children and families about their arthritis condition
– Children with arthritis not feeling alone in their arthritis journey
– A significant nation-wide network of families being supported and supporting each other
– Improved family dynamics for all family members including siblings resulting in less stress, with more families staying together
– Children/young adults with arthritis more able to deal with bullying, depression, the tendancy for self-harm, and low self-esteem
– Teenagers with arthritis better equipped to join the workforce when they complete their school and/or tertiary studies
– A wider understanding in the community that ‘even kids get arthritis’
– Increased membership of KWANZ so that we can provide support to even more families throughout the country.
The following is our ‘wish ‘list’ of future events and programmes:
1/ Two-day events in the four main centres where we can bring families together and run various informative sessions with health professionals (paediatric rheumatologist, physiotherapist, etc), and subject matter experts talking on various subjects such as resilience, mental health and coping skills, dealing with depression and low self-esteem, and preparing teenagers for life in the workforce after school.
We would also run separate sessions with the children/teenagers with arthritis (in two ages groups), their siblings, and parents so they can share their experiences and challenges. These will produce valuable outcomes and varying needs of the various family groups that we can focus on as subjects for future events.
There would also be fun activities where the children/teenagers could learn about teamwork and leadership and be challenged mentally and physically.
We would need to hire appropriate facilities for these functions and significantly subsidise the travel costs of the families thereby maximising the number of people who could attend.
The estimated cost of these events in four main centres is $80,000 annually. Depending on the availability of funding, the size and number of these events could be adjusted accordingly.
2/ Provision of Welcome Packs for new members and some existing members.
We would like to include in our Welcome Packs a range of aids that can assist children who have to have regular injections of their arthritis medication. These include wheat bags and cold packs designed to numb areas for injections, and buzzy bees and distraction cards. The cost of including these items in each Welcome Pack is in the order of $250.
The annual cost of producing these packs would therefore be $7,500 on the assumption that we get 30 new families each year. We also have a backlog of existing families that we would like to provide these items to so a one-off cost of $25,000 would enable us to provide these to 100 families.
3/ Provision of School Teacher Education Packs
We have developed the school teacher education video which is included in a pack which is left at the schools on an ‘as required’ basis when parents request assistance at their child’s school. The cost of producing each pack is in the order of $100.
The annual cost of producing these packs would therefore be $5,000 on the assumption that we get 50 requests from parents each year.
4/ Educational Videos
We would like to develop more video resources that would be included on our website. These would be on subjects such as nutrition for people with arthritis, and building self-confidence and self-esteem.
Each video would cost in the order of $4,000 to produce.
