On Sunday 6th December VOYCE headed over to the West Coast to put on a big Christmas Pool Party in collaboration with Oranga Tamariki – Greymouth at the Westland Recreation Centre.
The pool party was for care-experienced children and young people of all ages, their caregivers and their whānau; with families coming from as far north as Westport. Our care-experienced whānau came and joined us for a swim in the pool where we played some tunes and started up some volleyball. It was awesome seeing everyone get right in and involved playing and having fun. About halfway through we all came together for shared kai (fish and chips & sweet treats – YUM!) and were joined by none other than Santa Claus himself! All our special tamariki received gifts from Santa and then headed out to the playground for a big lolly scramble! And if you didn’t think that was enough excitement for one day, we had Mr Whippy join us outside where everyone got a free ice cream of their choice!
Overall the day was a huge success and we are so happy to finally have a presence over on the West Coast. An absolute highlight for VOYCE Whakarongo Mai was getting to connect with lots of new faces and caregivers. Young people said they were keen to have more events over where they are on the West Coast and we are so keen to come back and see everyone again!
Thank you to Sport Canterbury for the Tū Manawa funding to contribute to this event and Oranga Tamariki – Greymouth for partnering with us on this event.
