It takes a whole community to wrap manaaki, tautoko and aroha around our most vulnerable whānau.

Manaaki Mai, Manaaki Atu is about the reciprocity of the care. It’s an acknowledgement that we all need to support each other; and it’s about connecting whānau to resources that will support them with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19.

It all started with #Manaaki20, the Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu response to COVID-19, which was established when the pandemic first hit in 2020.

Overnight, Te Pūtahitanga brought together a team of Māori enterprises and entrepreneurs to plan the initial response.

The focus was on raising awareness of the risk of COVID-19 by sharing quality information with our whānau, and identifying needs and levels of vulnerability so we could ensure that whānau had ready, timely and safe access to support.

 

The next step was our Puna Fund, which was funded by the Government’s initial COVID-19 response package. Puna enabled us to meet the immediate needs of individuals and whānau who had been affected by the impacts of the pandemic.  It helped reduce stress and in many cases, improve the wellbeing and health of whānau, supporting them to provide kai, pay bills, support tamariki health and learning and to keep their homes warm and safe. We were able to support whānau until September 2021 when the Puna Fund was exhausted.

Our response to the pandemic evolved yet again with the launch of Te Pūtea Whakatere, a new fund that can be stood up to distribute pūtea in response to emerging needs or one-off events. Our first round opened in February 2022, supported by Government funding supporting the Māori response to the Omicron outbreak. We welcomed applications from whānau who wanted to design their own solutions to the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.

Te Pūtea Whakatere works alongside Te Pūtahitanga’s existing funds and programmes.

Manaaki Mai, Manaaki Atu Stories

Manaaki Mai, Manaaki Atu – Tā Mark Solomon

Getting vaccinated – and getting tested when you have symptoms – is a small price to pay for the wellness of your wider whānau
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Manaaki Mai, Manaaki Atu – Aunty Molly (Amoroa Luke)

There was never any doubt in my mind about getting the vaccine. Having managed the Ngāti Rārua health services for twenty years until my retirement last year, I know how important it is for us to frontfoot this for our Māori community.
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Manaaki Mai, Manaaki Atu – Helen Leahy

I spend my life thinking of ways that I can provide my kids with the best future possible and enable them to walk forward with confidence.
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