Change to the Final Five
The Lightfoot Initiative is a late, late entry into the Impact100 Wakatipu Final Five, after another shortlisted charity withdrew at the eleventh hour.
The Graeme Dingle Foundation Southern, featured in last week’s Lakes Weekly Bulletin, had planned to use the $100,000 grant to bring its Kiwi Can programme to Queenstown Primary School.
But due to unforeseen changes around the timing of other funding applications, which were also key to the delivering the programme, the foundation made the decision to pull out.
That means the active travel heroes behind Queenstown’s The Lightfoot Initiative were parachuted in last Monday, a week before the gala dinner award night this Wednesday, 25 October, where Impact100 members will vote on the winners.
It was the next highest ranked candidate from the shortlisting process.
Lightfoot Initiative general manager Amanda Robinson says they hope to use the funding to develop their OneBike and GoGo Electric programmes, from a Frankton hub.
“OneBike is a rescue, repair and redistribution project, which aims to make sure everyone who wants a bike can get one,” she says. “We source bikes for donation that have been gathering dust in garages, fix them up and donate them.
“Stage one has been 12 months and we’ve redistributed about 30 bikes, but we’re now moving on to stage two, which is high volume redistribution, and working with charities such as Mana Tāhuna, Central Lakes Family Services and Happiness House, who know where the need is better than us.”
The project also features a series of courses on bike repair, to build a wider community of bike mechanics, promoting the circular economy. Once the hub is opened, there’ll be tools on site for everyone to use, along with the e-bike library, through the GoGo Electric programme. Lightfoot currently loans out the cargo bike, at familiar sight around Frankton, and two others, but plans to expand.
“We’ve proved we’re an organisation that delivers but it is draining for us to be constantly searching for funding,” Robinson says. “So this would be huge for us, helping us provide equal access to safe, sustainable, healthy and affordable transport options.”
Clare Irons, Impact100 Chair says she’s glad the Graeme Dingle Foundation has been upfront about the funding issue, enabling another charity to benefit.
“We are grateful for their transparency and integrity through this process and look forward to receiving an application from them in the future.”
