NEWS FLASH, NEWS FLASH

Don’t forget to keep Saturday 18th April 2020 free for the re-launch of our Charity.
Our first one was outstanding and we are hoping to have a repeat performance.
We have booked the TE KOWHAI HALL, west of Hamilton and have an awesome band booked along with guest entertainers.
We will have StarBuddy merchandise for sale and may do an auction.
Tickets will be $15.00. It will be a BYO and ladies a plate.

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Big thanks to Waihi Goldmine Country Music Club for your donation of $262.70 raised from a recent Karaoke night held at the RSA.   What a terrific effort guys.

I am looking forward to doing a Guest spot for your Club on Sunday 10th July and hopefully we can sell some StarBuddy merchandise to top the amount up to $500 to create an official pledge from your Club.

 

TARANAKI PRESENTATION
Thursday 21st April 2016

REBECCA & JORDAN (Stratford), MAYCEE, COOPER (Hawera), OLIVER (New Plymouth)
StarBuddy Charitable Trust held a presentation for FIVE children from the Taranaki District on Thursday 19th May.
It was a very successful day and it was great to see a large turnout from St John Ambulance covering New Plymouth, Stratford and Hawera.
Joy invited each child up to receive their gift to the value of $50.00 from the Trust and also get a treat from a local business in their hometown.
It was great to have the local deputy Mayor in attendance and have Bev Gardiner and Angela Edwards representing the Merrilands Country Music Club (New Plymouth) and Carolyn Bayliss representing 2ZH Country Music Club in Hawera.

Both Club sponsored childrens pledges.

 

We were able to donate $1,125.00 to Parent 2 Parent which will be used in the Taranaki District to support families
$750.00 was donated to St John Ambulance shared between Stratford, Hawera and New Plymouth

Thanks to George and Noeline Worsley for all your support and especially the Stratford Senior Citizens Club for allowing us to use the hall at no cost and the awesome ladies for looking after morning tea.

Our sincerest thanks to the following business owners.
TET Kings Theatre, Stratford – Movie Tickets for Jordan and Rebecca
Splash Centre, Whanganui – Family passes for Maycee
Mega Bounce Arena, New Plymouth – Family passes and goodies for Cooper
Event Cinema’s, New Plymouth – Movie passes for Oliver.

MARTON COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Saturday 16th January 2016

Rebecca (aged 10 years) received a certificate and purple ukulele as a gift from StarBuddy Charitable Trust.  Focal Point Cinema and Cafe in Feilding donated cinema passes for the family as her treat.

Her school, South Makirikiri, will receive a donation from the Trust to buy special equipment like musical instruments or books and Graeme Bradley from Marton St John Ambulance was at the presentation to accept a donation as part of Rebecca’s pledge.

Dad Andrew Marsh said Rebecca, who has cerebral palsy, was delighted with her treat and will get a lot of benefit from playing the ukulele. “The cerebral palsy mostly affects her right side, so it will be good for her to use her left hand for the fingering and strum away with her right.”

OUT AND ABOUT 
I have just returned home from a very successful tour to the Lower North Island/South Island
I am thrilled to announce that while I was away, we sold over $2,000.00 in CD, pens and other merchandise which will create four more pledges.

My sincerest thanks to North City Country Music Club for organising a wonderful concert on Saturday 7th November at the Porirua Club. Lots of great singers performed on the night and I was presented with a cheque for $500.00 from North City CMC who will be sponsoring a pledge. Another pledge will also go to the Porirua region from merchandise sales.
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Wilson Carlile Rest Home and Hospital in Hamilton ran an Advent Fair on Saturday 21st November and have kindly offered to donate the money to StarBuddy Charitable Trust. All the residents got behind the project and made lots of goodies to sell.
I am told they raised nearly $800.00.  StarBuddy will top this amount up to $1,000.00 from other donations given which will allow us to do another two pledges for Hamilton Children.
I will be singing at the Rest home on Thursday 17th December and plans are to have the local paper come along and take some photo’s.
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The Warehouse in central Hamilton are still doing their token promotion so if you are in store buying your Christmas presents, please ask for a token at the checkout and support STARBUDDY CHARITABLE TRUST. We are doing very well and hopefully when the promotion is over, we will have enough money to create another couple of pledges for Hamilton children.
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It is with great sadness that we announce that our very first StarBuddy – Tiago lost his battle with cancer during the week.

Such a beautiful little boy and only 4 years old.  Taken far too soon.  R.I.P Little Star xx

HAMILTON PLEDGES

Patricia Avenue School in Hamilton received a boost in funds from StarBuddy Charitable Trust.
Seven children who attend the school were part of a presentation held on Tuesday 24th March.
Each child received a certificate and gifts ranging from Toyworld Vouchers, DVD’s, Ukulele’s, Night Lights and more plus they will all receive a special treat.

Some will be going to the pools and/or movies and others will have rides in Trucks or Hotrods.
It was a lovely day, and it was great to have John Gallagher attend along with representatives from Mt Pirongia Country Music Club and Te Awamutu & Districts RSA.

$1,000 was donated to the school and it will be used to create a sensory garden plus donations were also made to Blind Foundation Waikato, Austism Waikato and The McKenzie Centre
Parents, staff and close family friends attended and the afternoon was topped off with a nice afternoon tea.

 

HUNTLY PLEDGE
SOPHIE (aged 13)

StarBuddy Trustee, Faye Taylor with Sophie and Mum Rebecca

Gary Steel from Cowboys Care with Sophie

On Saturday 22nd March we were very pleased to be involved in the Family Fun Day held in Hamilton.
During the day we were pleased to present Sophie (aged 13) with her Starpledge.
She was sponsored by Cowboys Care and it was great to have Gary Steel there to give Sophie a neat Cowgirl hat courtesy of Renegade Hats NZ.
As her treat, Gary will arrange for her to do a bit of horse riding on his horse Ted.
Sophie also received a netball from the Trust and donations were made to Kidney Kids NZ and St John Ambulance in Huntly.

WELLINGTON STARPLEDGES
On the 8th March 2015, Gail Russell and Paul Sinclair presented two children from the Wellington Region their treats on behalf of StarBuddy Charitable Trust.

Gail kindly donated $500 to the Charity as the first StarPledge for the area and also donated a ukulele.
She is one of a number of talented kiwi entertainers who feature on the StarBuddy CD.
Both Gail and Paul perform all around NZ at various shows and have recorded albums.

Elijah, aged 4 was presented with a sparkly purple ukulele. He and his Mum Michelle also got tickets to the Zoo and a reading book/CD courtesy of Brian Ringrose.
Elijah has Prune Belly Syndrome which effects his Kidneys.
A donation was made to Kidney Kids and this money will be tagged for use in the Wellington Region.
A donation was also sent to Wellington Free Ambulance to support the great work they do in the community.

Sarah, aged 12 was presented with a mauve ukulele courtesy of Gail Russell. She also got tickets for the family to go to the Wellington Zoo.
Sarah has moderate Cerebal Palsy.
A donation was made to Parafed which is an organisation supporting children with disabilities in her area.
A donation was also sent to Wellington Free Ambulance to support the great work they do in the community.
This Pledge was donated by Gail Russell from Titahi Bay.
Both children received a certificate from StarBuddy Charitable Trust.

COWBOYS CARE HORSE EVENT IN HUNTLY
StarBuddy Charitable Trust was very lucky to be the Charity of choice for a recent Horse Event held in Huntly hosted by Cowboys Care.

A large number of entries were received with a variety of events held throughout the day.

Gary Steel on behalf of Cowboys Care donated $500 which came from the entry fee.
This money will be used to do an official StarPledge for a child in Huntly
We also received a gold coin donation of $100 from the public entry.

Thanks Gary and the team at Cowboys Care for a great day and your generous donation.

STARPLEDGES FOR NELSON
On Monday 12th January 2015, StarBuddy Charitable Trust presented three local children with their treats from the Trust.

We were fortunate to have Rachel Barrett there from Kidney Kids NZ, Jane Linn representing Parent to Parent and Helen McDonell representing Downs Syndrome.
Each of these organisations were given a donation of $225.00 from us and the Nelson branch of St John Ambulance received a donation of $450.00
Heather Kelling accepted a cheque on behalf of St John Ambulance.

Alfie (Aged 12) received a $50.00 voucher from the Rockshop as our gift to him. Richard Hayward from the Nelson Cricket Association presented him with tickets for him and his Mum to attend the ICC Cricket match between NZ & Sri Lanka which is being held in Nelson. Alfie is cricket mad and he also got a small cricket bat to get the players to sign.

Abby (Aged 11) received a beautiful stirling silver and diamante star necklace from Pascoes as her gift from us. Mike Rutledge from Natureland Wildlife Zoo presented her with an annual pass for her and her Mum to visit the zoo throughout the year.

Laura-Joy (Aged 11) received a $50.00 voucher from the Rockshop as our gift and Mike Rutledge from Natureland Wildlife Zoo presented her with an annual pass for her and her Mum to visit the zoo. Laura-Joy and her Mum visited the zoo the very next day.

One StarPledge was donated by Margaret Higgs who is a big supporter of Country Music. She was also in attendance and presented Abby with her certificate.
The other two StarPledges came from CD and merchandise sales.

STARPLEDGES # 6 & 7 – Mathew & Oliver, Te Awamutu
Brothers, Oliver (aged 14 years) and Mathew (aged 18 years) deal with Muscular Dystrophy on a daily basis.
Both boys come from Te Awamutu and are big on their music. They love the Waikato Heavy Metal band – Devil Skin.
As a gift from the Trust, we bought them both Devil Skin T-Shirts.
We had arranged for both boys to attend a CD signing in Hamilton when the band were in town, but sadly Mathew had a health set back and this option had to be flagged for now.
The boys’ pledge were a result of a StarPledge Donation made by the Waikato, BOP & King Country RSA Women’s Section and Merchandise sales.
StarBuddy Charitable Trust were delighted to present a cheque for $300 to Ross McGowan representing Te Awamutu St John Ambulance
A donation of $450.00 was made to True Colours Childrens Health Trust in Hamilton who have worked with the boys for a number of years.

 

STARPLEDGE # 3  and  #4  –  Coleman & Corbyn

Our third and fourth StarPledges were donated by the Kidnappers Country Music Club and The Hastings Country Music Club.

Coleman who is 8 years old has Duchene Muscular Dystrophy and his brother Corbyn (6 yrs) has developmental Issues. Both boys attend Kowhai Special School in Hastings.

After talking to their Mum, we found out the boys loved cars and they loved going to the movies so we decided to create a special event at their school so some of their other classmates could join in the fun.

We arranged to have three Ferrari’s turn up at the school at Midday much to the delight of the children. Both boys, including their younger brother got to go for a ride around town.

Certificates of Appreciation were given to the representatives of both the Country Music Clubs.

Hastings St John Ambulance Association was represented by Brendan Hutchinson and he accepted a donation for the two pledges from StarBuddy Charitable Trust.

Susie Chapman from CCS Disability (Napier) accepted a donation via Corbyns Pledge and Muscular Dystrophy Association will be receiving a donation from StarBuddy via Coleman’s Pledge.

Coleman will be receiving a certificate from Stardome Observatory and Planetarium and will be part of their ‘Adopt a Star’ programme.  He will get information about a Star in the night sky that has been assigned to him.  The information will give the Star’s co-ordinates and how to find it in the sky.

Readings Cinema in Napier donated a Family Pass to the movies.

Both boys received a framed Certificate from StarBuddy Charitable Trust.

 

STARPLEDGE # 2   –  Felicia

Our second StarPledge was donated by the Franklin Country Music Club in Pukekohe.

On Saturday 11^th October, we presented Felicia, with her treat.

Felicia has Angelman’s Syndrome and is non verbal. After talking with her Mum, we found out she loves sparkly things, loves music and DVD’s, and is a big fan of Country Entertainer, Dennis Marsh.

We held her presentation at the St John Ambulance Hall in Pukekohe and presented Lynette Walworth (Franklin Country Music Club) with a Certificate of Appreciation for their StarPledge.

The local St John Ambulance Association was represented by David Porter and he received a donation on their behalf from StarBuddy Charitable Trust.

Ross Melville from Pukekohe brought his Blue Mustang down to the Hall for Felicia to have a ride.     We managed to get her sitting in the car, but that’s as far as we got.

Felicia was given a Galaxy Projector for her bedroom which puts coloured stars and sparkles all around her ceiling and walls and to top off her treat, Dennis Marsh was there and presented Felicia with one of his DVD’s and her StarBuddy Certificate.

The local paper attended and did a wonderful write up in the following weeks edition.

Ursula Cranmer from the Angelman Network attended Felicia’s special day and accepted a donation from  StarBuddy Charitable Trust.

 

STARPLEDGE # 1  - Tiago

Our very first StarPledge was donated by the Matamata Club.

On Saturday 13^th September, we presented Tiago, aged 4 years with his treat.

After talking with his Mum, we found out he loved the colour blue, loved cars and music so we arranged to give him his very own blue ukulele, a StarBuddy T-Shirt and Certificate.

We held his presentation at the Matamata Club and presented David Oliver (Manager of the Club) with a Certificate of Appreciation. The local St John Ambulance Association was represented by Lyn Fisher and she received our donation on their behalf.

Steve Forbes from Auto One in Matamata brought his Holden Ute down to the club and arranged for his friends Paul McCormack and Dave Hocking to bring their 55 Chevrolet and Dodge down as well.

The kids loved the cars and the noise they all created. Tiago and his extended family all got to go for a ride around town and it was a wonderful way to launch StarBuddy.   The local paper attended and did a wonderful write up.

A donation from this StarPledge was also made to the Waikato Child Cancer Foundation.

STARBUDDY OFFICIAL LAUNCH – 20th September 2014

After a whirlwind of events, organising, fundraising campaigns on PledgeMe etc.. it was wonderful to give StarBuddy Charitable Trust the launch it deserved.

It was formally held at the Hamilton City Bowling Club on Saturday 20^th September 2014 and it was heartening to have a full house.

A Fantastic Band comprising of Renny Hantler, Allan Dennis, Lance Murch, Joe Martin and Tony Crighton made the evening and backed a line up of Top Entertainers including our headlining act, Dennis Marsh along with Annette & Kim, Renny & Jenny Hantler, Joe Martin, Joy Adams, Lynda Innes and Pai Te Tamaki.

Enough money was raised from Raffles and Donations to create another three StarPledges for the Hamilton area.

A wonderful memorable evening topped off with a supper that would have feed a full Waikato Stadium.