Making a difference in local communities in 2021 is what the AIA Vitality Business and Community Grants programme was all about, according to the insurer, with 10 grants awarded and more than $500,000 available to support grassroots initiatives.
Sam Tremethick, Chief Partnership Insurance Officer at AIA NZ says he’s thrilled to see so many community projects come to life.
“While originally awarded in 2020, many of the grants were delayed due to Covid-19 which meant the initiatives were delivered throughout this year,” he says.
“We are so pleased to have been able to support advisers’ businesses with this programme, and the health and wellbeing projects they are passionate about.”
At the start of 2021, Simon Gower from Leelee & Gower Insurance Partners helped more than 1,450 children learn to swim in the Waikato.
“It was great to partner with AIA who shared our vision of trying to improve the health and wellness of tamariki in our community,” says Gower.
Continuing the health and wellbeing focus was Alan Leuluai from Leuluai Financial and his ‘MoveWell’ health and fitness programme in South Auckland, and Leelee Li from Leelee & Gower Insurance Partners with her bootcamp and speaker circuit to support Asian communities in Hamilton.
Mental wellbeing was another core theme, as Lance Parker-Wadham and the team at Parka Insurances put their Grant to good use with series of talks by Sir John Kirwan on mental health and managing depression at local rugby clubs.
Dean Logan and his team at Logan Smythe & Associates offered a series of resilience and mindfulness community courses and workshops, along with a podcast series providing free, practical resources packed full of evidence-based tips and tools to help people feel good and function well.
Tradies mental health got a boost nationwide thanks to Ryan Edwards and The Adviser Platform team who launched ‘Tools Down’; an online platform to raise awareness of mental ill health and the suicide rate among Kiwi tradies.
Tremethic says: “With some AIA Vitality Business and Community Grant activations still to come, we look forward to more adviser community projects coming to life into 2022. At AIA NZ we are committed to helping people live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives – and what better way to achieve this than to partner with passionate advisers to do good mahi in their local community.”