Category: Holiday Programmes

Holiday Programmes at Challenge 2000

During the holidays, young people from the Wellington Region have the opportunity to be involved in a wide range of fun and educational programmes put on by Challenge 2000. Two weeks off school can be a bit difficult and boring time for some students and so Challenge provides a range of engaging and exciting programmes throughout the holidays as a solution. Development, leadership, fun, widening horizons and service are the focus of the programmes:
  • Hutt Valley: During the first week of the holidays Challenge 2000 youth workers are running a two day programme for intermediate and college students from Naenae and Taita schools. Creative, reflective and positive group activities will focus on building relationships, a sense of belonging, developing independence and teamwork, as well as a trip to the pool and gym to keep everyone on their toes.
  • Hawke’s Bay: Loads of fun activities, including horse back riding and a trip to the hot pools await the lucky ones headed to camp in Napier this week. During the time the group will focus on learning about the whanau concept and how to contribute towards a functioning  family. Communication, history, relationships and fun in the sun – that’s what we are hoping for.
  • Walk NZ: Group 1: A number of our young people are joining Finn Egan as he walks the central north island to raise funds for Roar4PNG, an organization battling sex and domestic violence set to build a women’s refuge in Papua New Guinea. Finn and the C2K whanau are walking across ice and snow, putting their endurance to the ultimate test and learning some valuable lessons:

Put much, much lighter stuff in your pack!

Look after your feet! Large blisters will not just slow you down but stop you from walking all together!

Meet blisters’ friend: Chafing– will also make life difficult!

I am not alone – support is on the way: The 2nd group of young people will join the adventure along the Whanganui River soon.

  • Kayak Wellington Region: (Walk NZ Group 2):  A C2K group will be challenging themselves even further by kayaking down the Whanganui River in Canadian kayaks and will camp alongside the river bank (weather depending) or break for the night in DOC huts. If you’d like to sponsor one of our young people or would like to donate some much needed (waterproofing) gear we’d love to hear from you, please contact Kitty here.
  • Service: Some of our young people will be out and about giving of their holiday time serving the community in a variety of ways: clearing sections, mowing lawns, facilitating workshops for kapa haka, cooking bbq’s, singing and painting and more.
  • Kaikoura: A highly dedicated and experienced team of Challenge 2000 social workers, youth workers and volunteers will travel to the South Island to facilitate a 1-week-programme designed to accommodate 30 high school students. The programme will focus on topics to help young people thrive: “Be brave, be free, be powerful, be you.” and have enough flexibility for spontaneous jam sessions, or a round of table tennis and pool throughout the week.   (Challenge has worked closely with local agencies and the city council to support the communities that have been heavily affected by November’s earth quake and we feel blessed tremendously by the relationships that have grown ever since.)

Fun Fun with the Little Ones!!!

Two holiday programme days were set aside for the younger children, aged 5 -10 years.  On the first day, the morning was spent at Newlands Community Centre where 26 children spent the morning baking chocolate chip cookies and making awesome frogs, turkeys, butterflies and paper planes!

The afternoon was very exciting for many of the children – we headed into Wellington for a guided tour of Westpac Stadium!!! The children saw the changing rooms, the player’s tunnel and many other “very cool” places around the Stadium.  The excitement on the children’s faces was priceless!  Who knows how many of them in the future will get to play on the grass!!

 

21 very energetic kids turned up for Day Two!!  The day began with games at the Challenge House, led by two of our Gap students, with the favourite game being the classic “cat and mouse”!  After some quick morning tea, we headed out to H2O Xtream where the day was spent swimming, going on fast slides, chilling in the lazy river, conquering the inflatables and scoring tries in pool rugby!!

We arrived back at the Challenge House with many happy, exhausted children (and staff!!!)

A big thank you to all the staff and volunteers for your help on the two days.  Thank you also to the parents and whanau for letting us hang out and have some fun with your children.

Express Yourself – Music Holiday Programme

Music brings life, much joy and laughter, we love it at Challenge 2000 so what better way to continue on with our holiday programmes than to make some seriously good noise with a day of musical adventuring!

With a range of experience from beginners to maestros, 22 young people and Challenge staff met at Newlands Community Centre loaded with enthusiasm ready to give it a go.
We formed the worlds most amazing ukelele band. Those who could play helped those who couldn’t, and we managed to play two entire songs that sounded both hilarious and awesome. For some, this has inspired a new love of the humble ukelele . ( No joke!)
The joy of making sound together continued with bucket drumming and rhythm games. Using skills of tuning in and listening together we made coherent noise! This was a fantastic experience, and it seemed we could easily be street performers with our loud pleasing sound.
In the afternoon, time was dedicated to performance.  We were inspired by the way people encouraged each other, worked together, practiced and supported each other.  For some this was this very first time to get up in front of others to play or sing and to see and hear the young people get up and perform was something truly special.  The talent was amazing.
Thank you so much to the young people and staff who got involved in the day. And a special thanks to Raroa Intermediate and St Catherine’s College for supplying extra ukeleles.  This day highlighted that music is powerful, and that creativity is in all of us, and when supported and believed in we can do things we never imagined!

September School Holiday Programmes

These holidays Challenge 2000 has lots going on for our children and rangatahi!!!

Activities include a sports day at ASB, music day at Newlands Community Centre, Water fun day at Keith Spry pool, 2 overnight tramps for young women, little children’s day at Westpac Stadium, Swimming and sliding at H2O Xtream, Adrenaline Forest challenge and holiday programmes in the Wairarapa for two days!

AND

Day of service supporting the Elderly, Refugee house preparation and general missions

All our holiday programmes are designed to ensure:

Growth                                                          New Experiences

Fun              Group building

Development                                Cultural and other awareness

Confidence Building

Our staff and volunteers spend a lot of time making sure the days are awesome!

Interested: Book now: Ring Megan on 0276 844 444. Many are already booked out, but we do have a waitlist.

Also we need YOU to sponsor some children – for $30 per day YOU can help someone have a great holiday NOW!

Call Challenge 2000 on 04 477 6827 or direct credit 01-0519-0057660-00 ref: Holiday Fun

Thanks and Happy Holidays!!

Challenge Holiday Antics!!

Another day in beautiful Wellington! I arrived in Johnsonville ready for work and tried to mentally prepare myself for the day.
Nothing could prepare me for what lay ahead!
I checked through my emails, wrote some case notes and checked in with one of the young guys I mentor.
Suddenly Michaela and Jess burst through the door excitedly proclaiming that they were about to go and ride some animals in the Johnsonville Shopping Centre.
“Sorry what?” I said slightly confused.  “We are off to ride motorised stuffed animals in the Johnsonville Shopping Centre, wanna come?”
I thought about it for all of 2 seconds before packing up my work and heading down to the Shopping Centre.
When we got there we were able to choose our steed. Jess chose a grey elephant, mine was a darker elephant with tusks and Michaela chose the cow.
We spent the next 20 minutes racing (too slowly for my liking) round Johnsonville Shopping Centre, much to the delight and confusion of the many of locals.  We started off with a three way race from the entrance of the Shopping Centre around to Countdown and back.
 Michaela and her cow ended up winning with Jess close behind and myself and Nelly (my elephant’s name) coming in last, a wee way back from the pack.  Oh well!
The rest of the time was spent driving around and interacting with the local shoppers.
What a way to spend Monday morning!!!

School Holiday Programmes!!!!!

Pushing Boundaries at Adrenaline Forest

“If you keep doing what you’ve done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” – Anthony Robbins

Young men from Colleges in the Porirua region participated in the various courses at Adrenaline Forest in Wellington as a reward for their progress in school.  The course also aimed to encourage the young men to step out of their comfort zones and face the challenge as a team.

By the end of the day, the young men were exhausted from the physically demanding courses but were grinning from ear to ear about what they had achieved.  For some, it was a fear of heights while for others, it was the struggle of working as a team.  All in all, it was a great learning experience with a bit of fun added!!!

Adrenaline Forest Team Photo Adrenlaine Forest Briefing

 

Rugby 101: Passing, Tackling and the Breakdown

“I don’t believe in magic.  I believe in hard work” – Richie McCaw

Peeling it back to the very basics of passing, tackling and the breakdown, students attending the rugby clinic learnt the art of mastery.  The small technicalities involved in making a good pass to the timing and positioning of a tackle were examined in the sessions.

The students enjoyed the sessions and have the ability to teach their respective teams or work on the drills themselves.  As one student summed it up: “you don’t have to get paid like a professional to train like a professional”!

Rugby tackling Tackle bags

 

H2O Extreme and We are ANZAC’s
As the children arrived, they were all filled with excitement for the days ahead. The first day was spent at H20 Extreme in Upper Hutt. We enjoyed riding the lazy river, cruising down the slides, practicing our swimming and having lots of fun. As the day went on we saw the children grow in confidence ready to take on new challenges.

On the second day, the children came back with big smiles on their faces ready to experience an Anzac filled day. We started by reading stories, learning about our soldiers, teddies, dogs and nurses that had been to war. The children had a chance to try on different army gear. This was definitely a highlight for many of our boys. We then headed to the city for a tour to look at the sights, the kids were full of questions and even managed a game of nonstop tag before we headed back to the Challenge House.

Thank you to all the children, parents and people who provided baking and volunteers who helped out on these days. Your support is so appreciated and make these days possible.

Website Website 2

Fun times at Newlands Community Centre!!!!

Challenge 2000 are back at Newlands Community Centre every Tuesday 3pm-5pm.

We had a few champion planes in our plane building competition today and we have a lot of exciting activities planned every Tuesday afternoon for the rest of 2016!!

Get ready

Planes

If you and your friends are interested in checking it out – come along on a Tuesday after school!! It’s free!

Holiday Leadership Programme

During the last school holidays 12 amazing young people from five different Colleges and Youth organisations accepted the Challenge to participate in a Challenge Leadership Programme.  This year we remember Kiwis landing at Gallipoli.  The leadership focus was on service and sacrifice.

Initially as our base was the Home of Compassion we studied Suzanne Aubert and the leadership model she lived as she supported and served the poor, needy and outcasts of our society. We looked at how challenging it must have been for her to come to Aotearoa New Zealand, learn to understand and work in Te Ao Maori and then to create a Congregation and community who would carry on her work.

We focussed on the importance of courage, trust, communication, getting to know others in your team and looked at the individual strengths and areas of development for each of the participants.  Each participant presented and discussed their chosen symbols which represented leadership for them.

We had the privilege of a visit and input from the Acting Chief of Defence, Brigadier Peter Kelly.  He spoke of his story and how he got to where he is now.  For many, this was the highlight of the training event.  Brigadier Kelly talked about the times that he didn’t succeed the first time, but because he had a goal he tried again and the second or third time he succeeded. He also talked to us about the sacrifices that he needed to make, missing significant events while away serving New Zealand in other parts of the world. One of the main things that everyone took from what he said was him saying that he is just a normal human being and that this is what makes us all equal – no-one is higher than others and all deserve respect.

We did some service like supporting Challenge and collecting for the Home of Compassion.

 

Below is some feedback from participants on the programme:

“I have learnt to focus on what I do have, and what I am able to share rather than worry about what I don’t have.”

“ I am really thinking about how I can develop my leadership skills and make a difference not just staying in my comfort zone and doing what I’m happy doing ”.

“Brigadier Kelly was awesome – I am keen to join the army and serve my country if I can. I think it would be a great career”.