About the organisation 

The Invercargill Cadet Unit provides its cadets with a variety of outdoor experiences, including camps and tramps as well as teaching them survival skills, such as bush craft, first aid, team building and leadership skills. 

It is open to males and females aged between 13 and 18 years. 

At present, the unit has about 35 cadets. 

 What the grant went towards 

Invercargill Cadet Unit received $4000 from the ILT Foundation towards the purchase of electronic devices to enable the mandatory transition to Cadet Net by the start of this year. 

The funding request came from the unit’s Parent Support Committee. 

NZ Cadet Forces nationally are transitioning to a digital system and the national body now requires all units’ activity planning, course nominations and general running of the unit to be in an electronic format. 

The unit required a base computer, four portable devices for senior officers to use at the base and on manoeuvres and three portable devices for cadets, for use largely at the base. 

 What the grant means to the organisation/community group 

“We are extremely grateful and very relieved to receive the assistance from the ILT,” Invercargill Cadet Unit parent support committee secretary Heather Hughes said. 

 “We learned in May last year the national cadet forces required us to go to a digital format.  It was a bit out of our budget for the year, so the funding allowed us to do that on time. 

“The unit did not receive any funding from the Defence Force, she said, so all funding had to be sourced locally,” she said.