The Seagull Centre’s annual round of grants once again saw a generous sum of money awarded to conservation and community-focused projects around the Coromandel, Thames and Hauraki.
This year, the charitable trust received over 60 funding applications. It awarded a total of $40,000 to the 31 successful projects, covering a variety of community initiatives, schools, and pest management groups.
The grants will go towards building a sensory garden, two recycling projects, six Garden to Table groups, six native planting projects, six pest control initiatives, two raised garden beds, five stream restoration projects, two fruit tree plantings, and one project to protect a new colony of long-tailed bats.
The grant recipients gathered to celebrate on September 19 at the centre. Sustainability coordinator Lucci Scott addressed the gathered crowd, and said the celebration was the highlight of the Trust’s year. “We just absolutely love that we can spread this koha to you guys and the whole Coromandel,” she said.
This year, grant applicants had also been asked to link their projects to the United Nations’ global sustainability goals, which Lucci said was part of the Seagull Centre’s strategy to think bigger.
“It was a learning exercise to be aware of [the goals], to see from a different point of view, and to look at it from an ethical side,” she said.
“We’re doing this in our small neck of New Zealand, but all of these things add up and change the world.
“If we did this all across New Zealand and then replicated it all around the world, we’d be in a much better place. This mahi just keeps us moving and keeps our world ticking over and being better and better.”
