Meeting with Island Child

Hey Devon here...

So last Wednesday we met up with Danielle from Island Child Charitable Trust so we could have a chat and figure out exactly what we want from each other.

Very quickly I found that Danielle was an amazing person and what she has done for people over the years really moved me. I was just astounded with the work she has done and it made me extremely eager to start working with her!

We gathered HEAPS of information from her about the organization and what its all about. We hit her with the hard questions and this was the result... :D

1. How did it all start? Who started up the organization and why?
Island Child started in 2003 when Danielle watched a documentary about Dr Derek Allan on TV and was inspired to help out. Dr Derek Allen is a doctor based in Indonesia who has chosen to work in the third world to help poor people in Vanuatu, Pakistan, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Indonesia. She was interested in what he did so she decided to help out by raising funds for medical aid. She managed to buy an old op-shop that after a while also became emergency housing. The trust has since progressed to become a homeless shelter for youth and homeless people in need.

2. How long has it been operating for?
Island Child Charitable Trust has been operating since 2003.

3. Who runs it now? How many staff? (Full-time/ part-time/ paid/ volunteer)
Danielle is the manager and working alongside her is her mother and five volunteers. Both staff and volunteers provide over 15000 hours of community work per annum. There are also trusties like the Auckland mission (who pass on homeless people to Danielle), Chevalier Equestrian Supplies, Mount Wellington Charitable Trust and Auckland City Council.

4. What is the core purpose of the community organization – who does it help and who are the main ‘audiences’?
The Trust is a charitable, non-profit organization established in 2005 and provides support and assistance to people marginalized or struggling and in need of support in East and South Auckland. The organization aims to reduce disparities and to strengthen families with a focus on high risk populations (Maori, Pacific, high deprivation areas). The trust’s core purpose is to provide services such as health programs, youth programs for at risk youth, emergency housing, and social, counseling and advocacy.

5. What is the core message? I.e. Can you work together to sum up the organization’s mission/vision/goals etc into 5-10 words?
The trust's Vision is:"To work in partnership with our communities and to strengthen families in need."

6. What is the current marketing strategy?
Get connected with the youth of Auckland, create an easily maintainable website, and use services such as social networking sites to help get their message across to the public.

7. What is one specific area they think they would like to work on/improve?
Awareness in general, youth participation, volunteer recruitment and information dissemination.

8. What is the capacity of the community group? Would they have the resources (both staffand time wise) to monitor and/or update a web based project?As long as the website was very low maintenance then they would be able to keep it up to date.

9. What do they hope to get out of the Challenge this year?
Make new friends, connect with YMedia people, improve IT knowledge.

10.Things they would like us to help with:
Create website, link website to google, design a stationery set (business card, letterhead, logo) and introduce the organization to social networking.
The look and feel: Feel good, power colours, ocean, pacific, maori.

So yeah...
Now we have plenty of information to work with and cant wait to get started!!!

Tommorow we are having lunch with our industry mentor, Karla Burke from DDB.
Should be exciting! cant wait to meet her...

Anyways its quarter to 12 and I have work in the morning!
Cya!!!