While the Hauraki Rowing Club is no stranger to “batting outside of our crease” when it comes to the sport they are passionate about – the need for financial support remains.
That’s why the group of rowers have put the call out to their farming community across the district to support their club through a new fundraising initiative: a bull calf fundraiser.
Hauraki Rowing Club acting president Megan Webster was involved with a similar fundraiser at a local school, where she saw how effective it was so took the idea to the club.
It was something the Hauraki farming community could do to help the kids, she told The Profile.
Anything that could help the club move forward and get the kids on the water was fantastic, she said.
“Our club desperately obviously needs the funds to keep running. It’s pretty much run by volunteers,” she said.
The best way to put it was that the club “runs on the smell of an oily rag”, she said.
While they had a number of sponsors who helped with services throughout the year or provided money, Megan said the club generally needed to raise between $20,000 to $30,000 per annum to keep the club running and to keep fees as low as possible.
“For our kids to be competitive, it doesn’t mean they need all the state-of-the-art equipment or facilities. They just need to have a functioning facility and functioning equipment.”
How the fundraiser works is that people are asked to confirm their bull calf donation and then proceed to rear the calf until it is a minimum of 100 kilograms. The calf collection will take place in late October, when volunteers from the club will pick up calves from each donor and take them back to one property, where a livestock agent will go and view them.
From there, the bull calves will go to the sale yard where they will be sold to new farmers.
The club also had the support of stock agent Northern Livestock, who would do the sales commission-free, which added to the profit that would go back to the club, Megan said.
“It is a group effort. It’s not just one person. There’s a lot of farming families that get together to make this happen.”
There will also be a prize for the heaviest of each breed, prizes are still being decided upon. Megan said the committee was currently planning more fundraising ideas such as a rowing machine erg-athon, sweetcorn sales and sausage sizzles.
Megan’s passion and commitment to the sport of rowing is part of her family’s heritage.
Not only do her sons row, but she and husband Michael, currently a coach at the club, used to row. In addition, Megan’s father-in-law, Richard Webster, who was the Hauraki Rowing Club patron, used to coach for New Zealand in rowing, and won bronze at the Olympics in 1984.
“So we have a strong rowing family history,” she said, which was why she was keen to support the sport.
“I’m trying to get as many kids into it because, A, I love the sport, and B, I just think it promotes just such good life skills within the kids themselves.”
Even after a hard training session, Megan said the kids would come off the water with a smile on their faces.
“It’s a nice thing to see.”
DETAILS: To register a donation to the Hauraki Rowing Club Bull Calf Fundraiser – send a text with: Bull Calf Fundraiser and your name to 027 300 9710. Contributions can be made until the date of pick up, which will be around the end of October to the beginning of November.
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
