The Covid-19 pandemic has been especially challenging for charities — with many receiving less from donations, less engagement from supporters, and being hindered in their efforts to keep up the good they do.
One of The Good Registry’s charity partners facing this struggle is Sustainable Coastlines — a charity that protects the coastlines and waterways of Aotearoa through grassroots actions such as beach cleanups, tree planting, and litter monitoring. They’re also a great source for education and inspiration, encouraging people to learn more about the environment and make small, impactful changes in their lives.
A a result of the Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns, Sustainable Coastlines has lost a significant part of their usual engagement because of their International Volunteers programme being unable to run, events being cancelled, and priorities changing.
For one of their major projects, Sustainable Coastlines has had a 60% decrease in community volunteers and a 50% decrease in funding, meaning they’ve been able to deliver just 40% of the impact they had planned.
The kind of work that Sustainable Coastlines does creates so many good ripples across the country. Having a clean and green environment helps with New Zealand’s tourism, food supply, air quality, future, and wellbeing.
Stephanie Vercoe from Sustainable Coastlines stresses this relationship between wellbeing and the environment. “It’s important for us to be looking at the future and making sure we’re looking after our health and our environment, because they are intrinsically linked.”
By donating to charities like Sustainable Coastlines at this time, you’re helping to look after the health of New Zealand and all of the people that call it home.
Sustainable Coastlines wants people to know that as well as creating hardship, the Covid-19 pandemic has also created good, with a widespread renewed sense of appreciation towards our natural environment.
Stephanie emphasises her gratitude towards anyone who has offered support during this time. “Our family of charity partners and sponsors has been amazing, we have had phenomenal support from all of them.”
Corporates have the power to make a big difference. For Sustainable Coastlines, corporates can book events, like beach clean ups, and get their staff out in the community to work towards collective good. Stephanie says this is a great way for staff to reconnect after lockdown while doing purposeful good in the community.
Businesses can also support charities like Sustainable Coastlines in-kind by supplying things like cars, accommodation, food, or expertise.
And even if you don’t have money or other resources to give, you can still make a difference by checking out Sustainable Coastline’s resources page to learn more about sustainability, as well as tips on implementing small changes for the good of the environment.
Sustainable Coastlines is also offering free online versions of their popular Love Your Coast and Love Your Water presentations by their expert educators. If you’re a teacher with a school group, a business wanting to engage your team, or simply a family at home wanting something a little different, you can request your presentation here.
One of Stephanie’s favourite quotes about making small changes is, “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing zero waste imperfectly.”
An easy way to kickstart your own zero waste journey is to create a Good registry to donate to a good cause (like Sustainable Coastlines!) in lieu of gifts for your next birthday, Christmas, or other speical event. You can also make the next gift you give zero waste by giving one of our Good gift cards, which can be redeemed to donate to any of The Good Registry’s 65 charity partners.
Good givers have donated more than $1,500 to Sustainable Coastlines through The Good Registry so far — enough to plant 150 native trees. We’d love to keep putting more trees in the ground for the Good of NZ and NZers — and it’s easy to do by saying NO to unnecessary gifts and donating that money instead.
- By Tilly van Eeden
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