Variety Trillian Bash Delivers Hats for Kids

VARIETY TRILLIAN BASH DELIVERS HATS FOR KIDS

Rural poverty touches charity ralliests

The 25th Variety Trillian Bash left Masterton this morning for another round of rural school visits fired up by a story shared from the day before. The crews split the convoy to attend as many schools as they can, and one group had arrived in blazing sun to find not a single child in a hat. Seems the school is fund-raising to supply them…

“Thank goodness for Haier,” said Fishpot team’s Peter Drummond, “Which had supplied 100s of 25th Anniversary caps for the crews to hand out, but it was sobering to realize this school and these kids simply couldn’t afford protection from the sun, while we had enough hats to go round twice over.”

The story had done the rounds and today the crews were more determined than ever to lighten a few lives. No matter how well fed and cared for a child is, the sight of the Bash crews in their fancy dresses, of their fire engines and cheerfully painted cars, their lights and sirens, always draws big smiles. But again, there were stories to touch hearts that have spent the year raising funds for Variety – each crew donates thousands simply to take part.

Lorraine from Hamilton’s Tron truck discovered today that many pupils at one rural school arrive without having showered or bathed that week, “How much is a cake of soap?” She says, “But talking to the teachers, it seems some of them come from parents who themselves were disadvantaged, it’s as much ignorance as not having the money to cope.” Today it’s Johnson and Johnson Batman toothbrushes stuffing goody bags, along with balloons and crayons. And again, it’s sobering to realize how much we have, and how little it takes to improve some small lives.

It’s a quiet set of crews who gathered for lunch at the windfarm above Ashhurst, before the afternoon drive to Napier for the night.

Tomorrow: breakfast at the Masonic Hotel at Napier, then schools en route to Rotorua for 1.30pm, finishing the day at Tauranga

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