Awa Aroha Fund

Whitewater NZ is so proud to be announcing our new Awa Aroha fund.

This fund will be used to support paddlers across Aotearoa who are involved in serious whitewater incidents.

The fund’s purpose is to support river crew after a serious river incident by bridging the gap between victim support services and the individuals accessing government funded mental health services. There’s often at least a 6 month wait (it varies by DHB) to access public support if someone is struggling, and we want to support people during the in between, and provide access to group debriefing sessions with vetted professionals. We don’t think a six month wait time is good enough, so we want to bridge this gap.

Eligibility is direct involvement in a fatal or near fatal incident, in a river environment, in NZ, while participating in whitewater paddle craft activities in a recreational capacity.

People will not have to be a member of Whitewater NZ to receive this support. You can read the full policy here.

To fundraise for this new support, Whitewater NZ is hosting a series of fundraising film nights, and appealing for donations.

Now we’re not a big organisation with bottomless pits of money, this support won’t be a long term solution, but something to bridge the gap between accessing publicly funded support services available in NZ.

We would really appreciate the clubs support in promoting this event to your community, and helping us to provide services to paddlers who need it. You can book tickets here.