I hope you enjoyed our last meeting as much as I did despite the confined space we had to work with.

It’s great to have all club members get a better appreciation of just what our business members offer by way of products and services. We have a healthy vibe within the club and this only bodes well for a positive future for the club.

I think we all found Michael Markham’s address informative and on behalf of my business (PPL) I can highly recommend Kendon’s range of services. A far cry from what we might have expected from our accountant in days gone by.

It was great to introduce and induct Stuart Hurst from Equip Recruitment into the club. Stu brings a wealth of experience in the recruitment industry and he is a real character who will add a lot of flavour to our fast-growing club. (Stu will be speaking next month).

Last night I hosted the presidents from Eastern Hutt, Petone, River Valley and Hutt Valley again to discuss and progress the “Lifting the Lid“ programme.

With all but one club committing seed funding to get the program underway we are well on our way to launching the project in November. We already have $26K committed thus far from the various Rotary clubs so It’s a great start. Once again, I would like to acknowledge the great work Darryn Gray, Andy Soper, Linton Adams, Allan Brown, Andy Barker and Craig Deadman are doing on behalf of our club to provide the vision and planning to ensure we keep all of the Hutt Valley clubs invested in this project.

Of course, the funding committed was just to get the project up and running with the major funding planned to come from “The Great Walk for Mental Health” planned for late March to provide most of the funding required to see the programme thrive for the foreseeable future (fingers crossed)

Our very own Andy Barker has very kindly offered to set up a website free of charge to ensue rotary connect with Schools and the wider  community around this project. There are a lot of moving parts with this, and I will provide more information at next week’s meeting.

As Christine and I will be away in Europe for most of September for our daughter’s marriage in Croatia and then visit our son and his wife in Chicago after the wedding I will miss both September meetings. Andy Soper has very kindly agreed to step up and cover both meetings for me.

Lastly thanks to all of you for bringing so much energy to our meetings!!

Regards,

Cameron Tooley
President
Rotary Hutt City

David Cameron - Wellington Budget Services

David has a background in telecoms and IT, having worked in the UK, briefly the Netherlands before moving to Spark and Wellington in 2005.

For the last seven years, he has worked for Wellington Budget Services as part of the Citizens Advice Bureau. Recently government funding has been pulled, at a time
when David says they are “busier than ever” as people struggle with high interest rates and the cost of living. The service saw around 470 people in 2023, and demand has grown 60% since the beginning of 2024. The increase is likely to continue as cuts to public services kick in.

The Wellington Budget Service, run in conjunction with the Citizens Advice Bureau, is staffed predominantly by volunteers but requires funding to pay for a part-time manager and office and IT equipment. Funded by MSD since 2017, it received $77,000 in 2023. Without funding, it is possible the service could close.

Clients are often deep in debt, or struggling with their mortgage. The organisation helps clients create budgets and negotiates debt payments directly with creditors. All services are free.

David and his team have helped hundreds of people get their lives back on track through helping them learn ways improve their budgeting skills. So, come and hear what they have achieved and what is in front of them now that the funding has been pulled.