12 Dec 2019
They say it takes a village to raise a child and that rang true at the 2019 Hastings Education Fund (HEF) grants presentation where 29 young students will now have the opportunity to make their dreams come true thanks to our generous community.
In its eighth year, HEF has granted more than $476,700 in non-cash support to more than 219 secondary school leavers in the Hastings who need a helping hand to pursue further study.
The support comes by way of textbooks, financial assistance for living away from home to tools of the trade. Funding comes direct from the generous pockets of community and business donors who offer sponsorship packages between $1000 and $10,000.
The recipients were chosen after a rigorous interview process, narrowed down from a pool of 76 applicants. "It's an amazing contribution that this fund has made to help students achieve their goals," HEF patron Jim O'Brien said. "We encourage young school leavers in the Hastings to have dreams and set high goals for their future careers and life. We encourage them to believe in themselves. And we demonstrate our belief in them by giving them support to achieve those goals and dreams."
The recipients of Hastings Education Fund grants for Wauchope High School are: Kirstan Bird, Molly Styles, Lani Swinnerton and Jayde Willingham.
The students expect to pursue further study in areas from law, science/mathematics and nursing.