I recently watched an awesome TV series – “Ted Lasso”. To be honest it’s been around for a while and I’m a bit slow to the party … it’s won numerous Emmy Awards, and rightly so in my humble opinion.
As a quick introduction, the show is about an American Football (Gridiron) coach from Kansas who comes to the UK to coach a Premier League Football team. He has so much learning to do and it makes for entertaining watching.
I love the way Ted leads his team. He’s not an expert in any part of football: the terms (he still calls it soccer), the rules (“tell me how the off-side rule works again?”) or the way the league works (“you mean to tell me if we lose, we can be kicked out of the competition entirely?!”). But he lets the experts do the work on the field, while he guides the team to be their best human selves.
It’s the way I try to lead our team here. Goodness knows I’m not an expert in spinal cord injury. I have and continue to learn as much as I can, but I’ll never know as much as the specialists, or those who have lived experience. I leave the experts to do the work ‘on the field’ – and they do an awesome job.
I try to give them the tools, encouragement and space to be their best human selves. In my experience, when people are allowed to be their best self they seldom disappoint.
And I encourage my team to lead the same way. This has been awesome to see as our Community Peer & Whānau Support (CPWS) programme has bedded in over the last couple of years. We now have two Region Coordinators supporting a team of 17 contractors across the Burwood Spinal Unit’s catchment area, in addition to the team of three who work on-site in the Hospital and Andrew managing the programme overall. Whew!
Kia pai tō rā | Have a great day,
Hans Wouters, CEO
e: Hans.wouters@nzspinaltrust.org.nz
t: 03 383 6881
This CPWS programme was made possible by a ground-breaking Proof of Concept contract with ACC which will end on October 31st.
This presents an opportunity to get more people involved in our fundraising … trusts and foundations, corporates and individuals have the opportunity to invest in our long term future and ensure we are never again too reliant on one income source.
Your donation will ensure we can deliver our services to everyone who wants it, free of charge.
This end to funding makes me think of one of Ted Lasso’s favourite quotes:
“There’s two buttons I never like to hit, and that’s panic and snooze.
The loss of ACC funding has not caused me to hit the panic button – rather, this is an opportunity to get more people involved in our fundraising … trusts and foundations, corporates and individuals have the opportunity to invest in our long term future and ensure we are never again too reliant on one income source. Anita, our Finance Manager; Su, our Fundraising Manager; and I have been busy working on the plan to grow our fundraising to replace the ACC contract.
And we’re not hitting the snooze button either – the end of funding is not a reason to slow, but to move full steam ahead with our current band of CPWS workers, reaching out to our SCI community and continuing to support positive futures.
However, not hitting either the panic or snooze buttons does require me to ask for backing from our community. This is an appeal for you to invest in our work (all of it: Peer & Whānau Support both in the Spinal Units and in the community; Return to work support; and the Library) in the most necessary and practical way possible … donate. Please.
Raising funds for ongoing operational expenses such as staff costs, insurance, rent, training, IT support, etc can be frustratingly difficult at times. Often funders want to give money for new, innovative programmes or projects rather than an existing proven one.
Our work is almost entirely based on having meaningful conversations and interactions with clients, so achieving positive outcomes depends on having engaging, capable, empathetic staff members. Fortunately, we have employed a team full of such people. And that means staff costs form a high percentage of our expenditure.
And I’m very happy to report that we can match your one-off donation, dollar-for-dollar, with support from Access Community Health, (access.org.nz). Access understands the work we do, they know the people who do it; they know the people who need it; and they want to support us in the most practical way they know how. They are fully involved in it, every day, working alongside us to transition individuals with Spinal Cord Impairment to their home, and providing any ongoing support required.
So – every dollar you give before November 30th (up to a maximum of $25,000) will be matched by Access Community Health. It’s the ultimate 2-for-1 deal … and as Ted says,
“Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing”.
If you are able to, please support our work with a one-off donation, a regular monthly gift or even a gift in your will (and may that gift be a long time coming).
ONE-OFF DONATION
Bank directly to our account – NZ Spinal Trust 03-1597-0101190-00
(and use AA2024 and your surname as the reference)
REGULAR MONTHLY GIFT
Bank directly to our account – NZ Spinal Trust 03-1597-0101190-00
(and use Back Bone Crew and your surname as the reference)
OR use the form above (use the ‘frequency’ drop down)
GIFT IN WILL
Contact me (hans.wouters@nzspinaltrust.org.nz) or 03 383 6881 and I’ll provide some information for you to take to your solicitor OR www.gatheredhere.com/nz/c/new-zealand-spinal-trust to create your own online Will for free
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New Zealand Spinal Trust 2022 | Charities Commission No. CC43195