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ITC donates $5,000 to Auckland City Mission

Posted on 15/12/2015 by
Auckland City Mission Fundraising Team Leader Alexis Sawyers is pictured with ITC Directors Claire Huxley and Kerry Priestley.

Auckland City Mission Fundraising Team Leader Alexis Sawyers is pictured with ITC Directors Claire Huxley and Kerry Priestley. ITC generously donated $5,000 to the Mission’s 2015 Christmas Appeal.

The International Travel College of New Zealand (ITC) is lending a hand to those in need this festive season.

Instead of enjoying a large staff Christmas party, employees at the college voted to donate $5,000 to the Auckland City Mission – a generous show of support for deserving families in the local community.

“We asked the ITC team if they would prefer to have a big Christmas do or if they wanted to donate the money we’d usually spend to charity and have a smaller celebration,” says ITC Marketing Director Claire Huxley.

“We’re proud to say 98 per cent of the team voted for a smaller Christmas party, which allowed us to make a sizeable donation to the Auckland City Mission.”

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Pretty in pink: ITC raises money for breast cancer

Posted on 20/10/2015 by
Staff and students at the International Travel College participated in the NZBCF's Pink For a Day campaign to raise money for breast cancer.

Staff and students at the International Travel College participated in the NZBCF’s Pink For a Day campaign to raise money for breast cancer.

Students at ITC always love an opportunity to dress up for college – especially if it’s for a great cause. Last Wednesday everyone ditched the smart black and white dress code in favour of pink, pink and more pink to raise money for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF).

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ITC supports unique, life-changing project

Posted on 05/11/2014 by
Manurewa High School Deputy Principal Phil Muir with some local children from Cambodia

Manurewa High School Deputy Principal Phil Muir with some local children from Cambodia

For several years, ITC has been sponsoring Manurewa High School’s Humanitarian Aid Leadership Programme (HALP) to Cambodia.

This year around 20 students embarked on a journey that saw them that return as “empowered, passionate, worldly young adults who have a greater desire to achieve and then give back to their community,” says Deputy Principal Phil Muir.

The students spent 12 days engaged in a range of projects and activities “that opened their eyes to the history and culture of a country that has been shattered by civil war, famine, genocide and poverty,” says Mr Muir.

The group worked with a number of aid projects including the World Vision Area Development Programme at Chi Kreng, and a NZAid funded agricultural programme that helps communities turn from subsistence farmers into productive croppers on land that was until recently covered with landmines.

Students also gave blood and donated to the Kantha Bopha children’s hospital in Siem Reap and the children’s hospital in Phnom Penh.

At Kantha Bopha, students heard from Nobel Peace laureate Dr Beat Richner. Student Kate Montgomery says, “Hearing about Dr. Beat Richner’s project of building and maintaining the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals was inspiring. It’s amazing how much one person’s vision can impact millions of people’s lives. This helped me to realise that I have the power to help people too.”

“The HALP programme also has a long term relationship with the Centre for Children’s Happiness – an orphanage which rescues children from the dumps of Phnom Penh,” says Mr Muir “and the students spent a full day playing, muralling, teaching and interacting, as well as giving a large range of donated gifts.”

The group also spent a day with 20 students sponsored by the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study as postgraduate students in New Zealand in areas such as development studies and tourism development. “The idea is that they will return to Cambodia and help to build a more successful country,” says Mr Muir. “We made some excellent links with this group, and look forward to developing these contacts – particularly when the students come to New Zealand next year.”

The students also visited the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. This visit had a real impact on the students, including Kate Montgomery, who says, “Throughout the entire time we visited the prison I felt numb and weak. None of what I saw looked real to me. It was so far removed from what I consider to be reality that I just couldn’t make sense of it.”

Kate says that the trip was genuinely life changing for her: “I saw, did, and experienced things that I hadn’t before. It really showed me the importance of so many things that we take for granted in this world. Things such as transport, roads, clean water, bathrooms, money, blood, education, and above all, people.”

“It truly did change my life and me as a person. I am not who I was before, and I am still not who I will be. But I can say that I am different. And I plan to use my experience to impact on others’ lives, and to make a difference in this world.”

Mr Muir says that the trip would have been beyond the reach of many of the students without ITC’s help: “The 2013 HALP team truly wishes to thank International Travel College for their generous contribution and support – your belief in our unique, life-changing project is very highly valued.  We travelled as fabulous ambassadors for our community and country and your support helped to make this project a reality.”

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ITC Spreads Christmas Cheer to Those in Need

Posted on 24/12/2012 by

International Travel College has been helping Auckland City Mission to provide gifts and food for families in need this festive season.

The Auckland City Mission relies on the generosity of the public to be able to continue to provide its increasingly stretched services to the Aucklanders who need them most.
 
The team at ITC worked closely with the Mission this year by creating three themed weeks for its students to get involved in: the themed donations focused on cans, sweets and biscuits, and noodles. ITC donated additional items that the Mission could use as gifts for Christmas.
 
Last year barely half the queue outside the Auckland City Mission was able to receive gifts for their families and, sadly, some were turned away. 

This year ITC did its part to provide gifts for more families by creating an appeal and spreading the word through social media.

“Our mindset was that every little bit counts,” says ITC’s Melissa Verwijmeren. “We had an incredible response from a number of companies that meant we were able to provide an abundance of useful items.”

Companies such as Ezibuy, Creo Gyms and many Twitter users followed ITC’s Facebook invitation and the college was able to deliver numerous gifts and food parcels in weeks leading up to Christmas.
 
“For a small idea to become such a huge success gave the team at ITC a huge feeling of gratitude,” says Melissa. “Not to mention the warm fuzzy feeling of helping so many people in need this Christmas season!

“Many of us are going home to our friends and family and just having a simple appreciation of how lucky we all are.”

“ITC is proud to support the Auckland City Mission in its care of families in need, and it’s been a great way for us to start the festive season,” says Melissa.

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International Travel College Gives a Bellyful

Posted on 08/05/2012 by

International Travel College of New Zealand (ITC) has recently become a sponsor of Bellyful NZ.

Bellyful is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers. The organisation delivers free precooked meals to families with new babies and families with a critically ill family member.

“It’s such an incredible organisation,” says ITC Account Manager Ceri Jenkins. “I met Jacqui Ritchie, the executive director, at a careers expo and was just amazed at the service they provide.”

“We have many working parents studying at ITC,” says Ceri. “Study is always a real commitment, but it is even more so when you have a family to organise as well. At ITC we love that this service offers such practical help to new parents.”

Bellyful has 16 branches around New Zealand and aims to have one in every town in the country by 2016.

“That’s an amazing goal,” says Ceri, “and we seriously hope they can achieve it. A lot of new parents entering tertiary study aren’t in the main centres.

“At ITC, for example, new parents often choose our distance learning courses, as they don’t need to uproot their family and they can organise study around their busy schedules.”

Each branch of Bellyful does its own fundraising and is supported by local donations and volunteers. Parents with babies under three months old and families struggling with illness can contact their local area coordinator via the Bellyful website: www.bellyful.co.nz

“A home-cooked meal is such a simple thing to offer,” says Ceri.“ But when you are juggling the demands of family life and work or study, it’s sometimes the simple things that make all the difference.”

Bellyful’s ambassador Pippa Wetzell agrees: ““Bellyful – it’s simple and yet when you’re struggling with the challenges that a newborn brings into your life, something like a cooked meal and someone to talk to can make a world of difference. Getting off to a good start in the first few months of your baby’s life makes a huge difference to the wellbeing of a whole family.”

 

 

 

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