Youth mentoring service returns to Motueka

October 30th, 2014
[by David Armstrong]

The world's largest children's mentoring programme, Big Brothers Big Sisters, is coming to Motueka, thanks to financial commitments made by Motueka Rotary and Lions.

The expansion of the BBBS programme in Motueka was launched last night at a simple function at Top 10 Holiday Park's conference centre, attended by about 50 supportive people.

BBBS has been operating in Nelson for several years, with an active association with 11 schools in the Nelson Tasman region. Two of its board members, Gavin Frampton and Simon Thomas, are Motueka based as is the mentoring coordinator Lisa Hewett.

Each mentoring "match" involves one trained adult and one child aged between the ages of 6 and 18, on a long-term basis, in which the mentor supports and spends regular time with the young person who needs a friend to help them reach their full potential.

BBBS Nelson says the programme helps the person mentored to be more confident in their schoolwork, able to get on better with their families, be more trusting of others, more willingly express their feelings, and more likely to avoid illegal or risky behaviour.

A mentoring service has run in Motueka in the past as part of Presbyterian Support Services, but funding for it ceased over three years ago and since then a few volunteer mentors had continued working with their children on a personal basis.

This year Motueka Rotary decided to bring BBBS to the town and promised $1500 per year for three years to help seed the initiative. This allowed BBBS to apply for further outside funding, and Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne also made funds available to help. The Motueka Lions vowed to match that with $1500 per year for three years.

The result is that BBBS can now start in Motueka with enough long-term funds to service six mentor-mentee matches. Each match, which can last for many years, costs about $100 per month to administer.

There are 18 BBBS programmes active in New Zealand. The Motueka one will be run part-time initially from some office space at Motueka Police Station.

The BBBS team hopes that other Motueka groups and individuals will commit money to the programme, in the knowledge that every cent goes to support and grow the number of matches in the Motueka district.

Rotary also paid for and organised yesterday's launch event. They want to encourage local people to donate and advocate for the service, or to volunteer to be trained as mentor for at least one year. Anyone interested should contact Lisa Hewett at or email

Lisa Hewett, Gavin Frampton and Simon Thomas at last night's launch.

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