Pancake tosses and a new home base for Zeal Taranaki

It’s been a big start to the year for us here in Taranaki! We moved into a new location, hired a new part-time youth worker, welcomed some amazing young people into our core crew, kicked off creative programmes and have been at a bunch of local events. We’re excited for the rest of the year in our beautiful region.

384 young people connected with in 2020

1050 people at community events in 2020

When we first met Jayden at an event at a local high school, he was disengaged from school, hanging around with people that were bad influences on his behaviour and had no sense of purpose in his life. 

Since coming along to Zeal, he’s found a passion for event management, sound, lighting and photography. But most of all, he’s found a place to belong. After doing the Gateway programme and helping out at a bunch of our events, Jayden’s landed his dream part-time job with a local sound and lighting company and we couldn’t be prouder!

Just over a year ago, we opened our doors in Taranaki from our centre in Marfell. In that time, we have run 20 events, using 264 volunteers, and engaged with 9291 young people. But now it’s time for a whole new season! 

This last month we moved into our new home at 74 Powderham Street in the CBD of New Plymouth. We love being so much more accessible to our local young people and are excited for all the mahi that will happen in this new hub.

It’s been a full couple of months of community events and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We had eight performers showcase their talent at the Oakura New Year’s Day Carnival, the talented DJ Hurshii hosted a dance battle at the Waitara Night Markets with our trailer stage and performers, two of our MCs helped host Race The City on 14 February, and we also had 10 performers at the Pancake Toss with Marcel’s where $500 was raised for our mahi. We love our community!

Creative programmes have kicked off for the year and hip hop dance is proving to be a big hit! One of our team, 14-year-old Ally, is heading up the programme this term. She has three year of teaching experience already and under her leadership, the class has doubled in size to a total of 12. We’re looking forward to these girls performing at upcoming events in the not-to-distant future.