This week on Wednesday we held our Charities assembly.

This week on Wednesday we held our Charities assembly. Here at Christchurch Girls High School/ Te Kura o Hine Waiora, two of the charities that we support are Cholmondeley and Brackenridge. Cholmondeley is a charity that provides short-term emergency or planned respite care for children aged 5-13 around Canterbury. Brackenridge is a charity that supports disabled people around Canterbury, and helps them and their whānau live full and happy lives. We were honored to have representatives from both these charities attend this assembly, and share to the school a little bit about what it is that their incredible charities do.

We were also honoured to have one of our very own students, Michelle Walker, speak about her past experiences with Cholmondeley, and her future experiences with Brackenridge. Below is a transcript of the emotive speech she presented at this assembly.

Morning everyone, My name is Michelle.

The reason I’m here today is to talk about my time in the foster care system and why Cholmondeley is so close to my heart. I wanted to share that being in the foster system has been quite difficult for me because I’ve had to move from place to place. In the last 17 years, I have lived with 5 different foster families. Knowing I have a disability makes me feel so different to somebody who doesn’t have a disability.

I’m here today to talk about my time at Cholmondeley Children's Home. Cholmondeley is in Governors Bay and is a facility for children aged 5 - 12. When I was younger I used to go to Cholmondeley when I was having a tough time at home, it is one of the best places I have ever stayed at. I went to Cholmondeley every weekend when I was 9 until I turned 12. Cholmondeley would always take the older kids out to do many fun things like watching Coca-Cola in the park, bowling, Mega Air, and Walking. While I was at Cholmondeley I made so many friends and we still see each other even though we have all left and are all in our last year of high school. I would like to thank Cholmondeley for my awesome experience while I was lucky enough to be there.

At the end of this year, I will be going to live in a flat that Brackenridge will provide for me. I will live with 2 - 3 flatmates who I get to choose and I can stay in Brackenridge until I am 25. I feel nervous about going to live in Brackenridge because I don’t want to leave home, but I am excited to have more freedom and be able to be more independent. But don’t worry I won’t be completely alone. Someone will come in and check on us every so often to make sure that we are okay! If it weren’t for these two charities the children in need wouldn’t get all the support they require.

Thank you for listening!

It was amazing to hear Michelle’s perspective, and it really helped our school to understand the depth with which charities such as Cholmondeley and Brackenridge can do to aid tamariki around New Zealand.

At this assembly, we also presented Cholmondeley and Brackenridge with the money we had raised for their charities a few weeks prior with a non-uniform day. We raised around $1,252 in total, which we were pleased to present the charities with. We want to extend a massive thank you to all students and their whānau who donated.