Community | Kris Cunningham

My Community

Kiwi Spirit Award 2017/18I love this one so much I thought it deserved it’s own post 😉 Carrying on this tradition since 2016 has been great fun and whilst we’ve made a few tweaks to the award along the way, the essence of why the award is given is still the same. It’s not given out for being
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Shore to Shore 2019 – Campbells Bay School sausage sizzleThis year we went through around 800 sausages for the eager runners and walkers from our school community! Despite getting the bbq up and running a good hour and a half before people started to cross the finish line, and a few helpers on board, we still struggled to keep up with demand! Wonderful to
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Centennial Park Bush SocietyThese guys are an amazing team of volunteers who, since the 1970’s, have been helping to preserve the character of Centennial Park by increasing bird life, eradicating weeds and improving stream quality. They increase awareness of the issues facing the park and organise weekly working bees in the park to help clean it up. I
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Movember Promotion 2018Whilst not a sponsorship as such, we were definitely out and about in the community, moustache and all – in November! This was a fun initiative aimed at raising awareness for Movember and Mens Prostate Cancer. We put moustaches on all of our signage throughout November and ran a social media campaign where we donated
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Murrays Bay Intermediate Rugby AcademyIn 2018 MBIS introduced a new initiative, – the Rugby Academy. Kids who want extra rugby training are invited up to Rangitoto College every Wednesday morning to train under their High Performance Sport Department. When asked if we would help with some hoodies it was a no brainer. They were so popular that we had
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Christmas Toy Drive for City Mission 2017/18For the last few years at Christmas time, instead of giving gifts to clients, we have invited them to come shopping with us to choose toys to donate to a worthwhile cause. In 2017 and 2018 we chose the Auckland City Mission. Each year in December we took around 30/40 kids to The Warehouse in
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Front Up for HospiceBasically with this one, my colleague Marty van Barneveld and I dress up and run around the North Shore completing challenges and helping to raise awareness for Hospice as part of the Front Up for Hospice challenge – which we have been the overall winners for 2 years running. (See Harbour Hospice Quiz Night post
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Harbour Hospice Quiz Nights 2017/18For two years now Marty van Barneveld from our commercial office and I have organised and hosted a quiz night at Hurstmere Road Brew Bar to raise money for Harbour Hospice. Each year we have had around 180 people attend (the 2018 event sold out in 5 days!) and in total have raised over $25,600
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Campbells Bay Schoolin 2017/18 we have sponsored a number of events at the school, including a Bogan Bingo fundraiser (adults only!), the end of year Christmas concerts, the annual book week and the Plant to Taste programme recipe book. I also help with coaching sports teams for both regular sports and tournaments. With two of my own
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East Coast Bays Rugby 2018Whilst of course our focus for most of the season is building these kids up to be enthusiastic rugby players, we do like to break it up with some fun club days and nights! As a committee member and grade co-ordinator, I really enjoy helping to organise these sessions, – from mud slides to tug-of-wars
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ECB Cricket 2017/18Over the last couple of years we have introduced the Harcourts Cooper & Co Sportsmanship Award which I present at 5 different prizegiving ceremonies. We introduced this trophy as no matter what we teach our kids, when it comes to sports, no matter which one they are involved in, teaching and commending great sportsmanship should
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Shore to Shore 2018 – Campbells Bay School Sausage SizzleBeaten for the first time by my 9-year old son, at least he set a good pace so we could make it back in plenty of time to cook some sausages! This year we went through over 500 sausages so they took a while but with some great help on hand, everyone who wanted a
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Harbour Hockey U13 Rep Team 2018In 2018 the Under 13 Harbour Hockey rep team were involved in a series of tournaments against other North Island teams in the lead up to the Nationals in Nelson in October. We sponsored their kit bags – it was awesome to go and present these to the boys and meet their families.
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Takapuna Normal Intermediate School discos 2018In 2018 we sponsored the photo booth at two discos at Takapuna Normal Intermediate School. Although I don’t have any kids at the school it always feels good to help out schools in the community.
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Blanket Drive for the City MissionThis one was instigated by my son, and my involvement was largely just supporting him when he organised a blanket drive for the City Mission – he got himself well represented at the school and I got him some good exposure at Harcourts! He collected nearly 40 blankets for the Auckland City Mission.
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Two Cans For a Cup 2018We have been teaming up with the cafe next door, Little King, since 2016 to do ‘Can for a Cup’ – bring in a can to donate to the City Mission and receive a free coffee! In 2018 we went for more and made it ‘Two Cans for a Cup’ – we have collected well
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Quiz Night at Campbells Bay SchoolFundraising is an important part of any school community and this is a fun night to be a part of whether you are behind the scenes or just turning up with your thinking cap on to try and lead your team to victory! A lot of work goes into putting the evening together so we
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Shore to Shore 2017 – Campbells Bay School Sausage SizzleMy son Jakson and I ran this as fast as we could this year so that we could make it back in time to help the team on our barbecue handing out over 800 free sausages to deserving participants! What an incredible day it was, the sun came out and this year was a record
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East Coast Bays CricketIn November 2016 we became the new (and very proud) major sponsors of East Coast Bays Cricket Club. ECB runs a great programme, especially for the juniors where I’m a lot more involved, convening the year 1and 2 grades, so we are stoked to be able to give back to the club & community.
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Little King Cafe – Can For A Cup – September and December 2016This was such a success the first time around, Little King Cafe have done this again twice since, and in December Montrose Cafe in Mairangi Bay also got on board with the concept of a free coffee for a can which would be donated this time to The Auckland City Mission and The Presbyterian Church.
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Kiwi Spirit Award at Campbells Bay SchoolWhen Tony Ebert retired in 2016, his son Nic and I decided to carry on his legacy of donating the prize to the recipient of Campbells Bay School’s Kiwi Spirit Award. Tony suggested the idea of this award back in 1996 and it is given to the student who has displayed the good Kiwi values
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Little King Cafe – Can For A Cup July 2016When the friendly team over at Little King Cafe told me about their Can For A Cup promotion, I had to get behind it. On a Friday morning they offered a free cup of coffee to any customers who brought in a can of food to donate to the Auckland City Mission. The coffee machine
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K Mart Wishing Tree 2016The K Mart Wishing Tree Appeal was such a great cause to support in 2015, we decided to do it again in 2016, but this time we went even bigger and better. We rounded up about 30 local kids to come and help us select some gifts for those less fortunate than them, – they
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East Coast Bays RugbyChildren’s sport relies 100% on volunteers, so getting involved in a sport that I am passionate about, is a total pleasure. Now with my son Jakson being an avid rugby fan, getting involved in coaching as well was easy, and has become a passion, and I’ve been co-coaching his team for the past 3 years.
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Harcourts Beach Series – Keep Fit and Have FunHere’s me and my son Jakson running in the Takapuna Beach Series. The North Shore is such an awesome place to be and events like these make it even better! Proudly sponsored this summer by Harcourts Cooper & Co!
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Rickshaw Run 2016On January 1st 2016, 6 awesome Kiwis embarked on a crazy adventure driving a rickshaw across India with no maps, no set route, no back-up, and a speed of 45kph, – all in the name of charity. We were proud to sponsor these very brave individuals who travelled 3,000 kilometres in 14 days and raised
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Shore to Shore 2016 – Campbells Bay School Sausage SizzleOn Sunday 3rd April thousands of people from our community took part in the ‘Shore to Shore’ – a fun run, (or leisurely walk if you prefer), between Takapuna Grammar School and Milford Reserve. Harcourts Cooper & Co sponsored the event this year and as a couple of our team members’ kids attend Campbells Bay
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East Coast Bays J7 Ripper RugbyI was proud to coach and sponsor this ragtag bunch of boys and girls in 2015. We had a great fun filled season, and were awarded the Team of the Year Trophy for sportsmanship, something we worked very hard on with the kids so this was very pleasing indeed. Looking forward to having a bunch
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Christmas is Coming and It’s Time for Giving!This year we have spread the Christmas love to Kiwi Kids who could do with something under their tree a lot more than we do! Thanks to K-Mart and the Salvation Army for arranging the Annual Wishing Tree Appeal. Merry Christmas!!
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