About the community group/organisation 

Southland Life Education Community Trust is a registered charity, which has been operating in Southland since the late 1980s. 

Using its mobile classrooms, the Southland Life Education Community Trust visits Southland schools to educate and inspire young people to embrace positive choices for a healthy mind and body. 

Educators, with the help of mascot Harold the giraffe, cover topics such as obesity, substance use, mental health and well-being and bullying, working to give students the skills and knowledge needed to make well-informed decisions now and in the future. 

 What the grant went towards 

Southland Life Education Community Trust received a grant of $5000 from the ILT Foundation towards operational costs of delivering educational programmes to Invercargill primary school pupils in 2019. 

The Foundation has been supporting Life Education Trust for more than 10 years, providing grants totalling $75,000 over that time. 

What the grant means to the community group/organisation 

“[The grant] literally means we can keep doing what we are doing,” Southland Life Education Community Trust chairwoman Jaime McNaught said. 

“We are extremely grateful for the continued support.  It makes life that much easier and stress-free. 

“It means we can put all our focus on the kids rather than worrying about where the money is coming from.”