Beyond the commercial benefits we bring to New Zealand, we also play a part in enriching the lives of Kiwis through community programmes such as the Wattie’s Cans Film Festival, Wattie’s Volunteer Coach of the Year and Wattie’s Project Cook amongst others. Read on for more about how these innovative and fun programmes support Kiwis at a community level.
Helping The Salvation Army Through Wattie’s Cans Film Festival
For 18 years, Salvation Army food banks throughout New Zealand have benefited from the donations of canned foods made through the Wattie’s Cans Film Festival.
By exchanging a can of food for a movie ticket, people are invited to enjoy a family blockbuster movie on a given night during the year at their local participating cinema. Heinz Wattie’s then doubles the donations, by matching the number of cans donated by the movie-going public. The cans are then distributed to The Sallies for their Christmas Food Bank appeals.
Last year more than 22,000 cans were exchanged for movie tickets and these, together with the Heinz Wattie’s donation, went a long way towards assisting New Zealand families in need.
In recent times, it’s been tough going for The Salvation Army, who last year alone provided more than 68,000 food parcels to struggling New Zealanders. And the need for help by many New Zealand families rises dramatically over the Christmas – New Year holiday season.
The Wattie’s Cans Film Festival is held throughout the country, thanks to the support of Event Cinemas, Hoyts, Reading Cinemas and independent cinemas. Since these Festivals began in 1994, over one million cans have been donated to The Sallies.
“We are rapt to be involved in the Festival. It’s a really great family night out with a wide selection of films on offer and it supports a great cause” says Tim Skellern, Wattie’s General Manager of Marketing.
Wattie’s Volunteer Coach of the Year
In 2011 Wattie’s sponsored the youth category of the SPARC Sport Volunteer Awards. All nominees for the Wattie’s Student Sport Volunteer Awards received a personalised thank you e-card and the winner from each of 17 regions received a $200 sports store voucher plus a Wattie’s prize pack including drink bottles for the team, cooler bags, a very cool Wattie’s T-shirt and of course, lots of tasty Wattie’s products.
Previously aimed at sports coaching, the Awards were rebranded by SPARC in 2011 to include all forms of sport volunteering, in any sport. For the Wattie’s Student Sport Volunteer Awards, anyone aged 18 years or younger, for the first time ever, could be nominated for a range of sport volunteering roles – including, but not limited to, coaches, managers, ball boys / girls, cheer-leaders, club kitchen helpers, and water boys / girls.
The Wattie’s Student Sport Volunteer Awards are in recognition of the fact that around the country every week there are young people giving up their time to help draw people together as communities through sport. They are the unsung heroes of sport in New Zealand. In all Awards categories combined (Student, Adult, Lifetime), a massive 6,863 sport volunteers in 2011 got the thanks and recognition they deserved for their contributions.
