The Christchurch Foundation is proud to present the 2020 winners of the Kate Sheppard Women’s Fund.
Joy Bailey
Uniting Canterbury Women is a platform for women from all over Canterbury to connect, share and support each other while promoting a message of kindness, compassion, and love. Jo was devastated by the 2019 mosque terror attacks and wanted to act. Asking herself how she could inspire and encourage unity amongst women of Ōtautahi, she reached out to her Muslim friend and Uniting Canterbury Women was born.
Erin Manning
Erin and her team provide community-based peer support for parents of Canterbury who experience a decline in mental wellbeing relating to pregnancy and childbirth. Through meetups like coffee groups and playgroups, they reach out to those struggling and provide support to teach parents how to manage anxiety, alternatives to self-harm, how to connect with their children and how to get through the tough times. Perinatal Wellbeing Canterbury (PWC) offers connection, strength and advocacy. This grant will allow PWC to set up a new peer support programme to help whānau in Canterbury who are dealing with a decline in mental wellbeing following childbirth.
These groups have shown me that I am not alone and that there are more people than I could have realised that are willing to share their time and experiences to help me and others crawl our way out of despair.
– Mother of one
Ciara Foley
Ciara works with Students Strike 4 Climate Change. Ciara and her friends arranged our city’s strongly supported Student Strike earlier this year. Students and supporters from across greater Christchurch marched through the city and congregated in The Square to make their voices heard. Ciara is ensuring that the big social issues facing all of us are front of mind, and she is calling for action.