iHeart Initiative

He aroha whakatō, he aroha puta mai - if kindness is sown, then kindness you shall receive. 

The iHeart initiative is not only our CAS project but also a valuable experience to give back to our community. Although we have just started the initiative this term, many preparations and planning were undertaken during the past few months. 

In this initiative, we have chosen to help children with CHD (coronary heart disease) by establishing a student group. Our aim of creating a student group is that Kristin as a community will be able to know more about this disease and how it impacts on the lives of affected individuals. 

CHD is the most common severe birth abnormality in New Zealand meaning it is a disease that affects a great proportion of our population. Due to the disease, the children and their families are put under both mental and economical pressure. As a community, we want to strive for equity for everyone by helping those who are disadvantaged. 

This project encourages people to put more effort into helping them both indirectly donating resources or through voicing the issue. The student group also helps directly by creating care packages and other recreational and educational activities.

Each of our decisions in what strategies we are going to take to help these children has been through serious environmental and ethical considerations. As such, last term, we gathered much second-hand clothing to sell at the Browns bay market and received many donations from the residents there. By recycling second-hand clothing, we are able to contribute with minimised waste. We see sustainability through our project not as a choice, but as a necessity. We are constantly making informed decisions on the materials we use and the method of producing care packages based on sustainable principles.

Sophia Fang, Jennifer Zhu and Emily Huang