Twenty-five east Auckland community projects will share $44,519.30 from the Howick Local Board’s latest quick response grants round.
The round drew 30 applications seeking $90,440.90 between them, and the Board settled the outcome at its 25 June meeting.
Board members funded 13 more groups than their officers had recommended, lifting the total handed out by $15,608.40.
The largest single grants went to security cameras for the Howick Sailing Club and a race timing upgrade for the BMX Mountain Raiders, at $4,000 each.
Free fun days at Rainbow’s End for 130 local young people, junior athletics at Lloyd Elsmore Park and CCTV for the Fencible Drive carpark were next in line.
Smaller grants funded school holiday clay art, guitar lessons, dragon beard candy workshops and Matariki celebrations across the area.
Five applications missed out in the oversubscribed round.
The Board also moved $37,986 of unspent grants budget into its tourism development programme for the coming year.
The successful grants
- Howick Sailing Club – $4,000 – clubhouse security camera system
- BMX Mountain Raiders Club – $4,000 – race event and timing system upgrade
- New Zealand Blue Light – $3,955.90 – free Rainbow’s End days for 130 local youth
- Pakuranga Athletic Club – $3,900 – junior athletics Have A Go morning, Lloyd Elsmore Park
- Howick Village Association – $3,800 – CCTV and signage, Fencible Drive carpark
- Howick Art Group – $3,105 – Spring Festival exhibition, Howick Bowling Club
- Howick Radio (East FM) – $3,000 – operating costs, Picton Street
- Sancta Maria Catholic Primary School – $2,000 – Growing in Faith gardens, Flat Bush
- Rainbow Celebrating Life Trust – $1,475 – Rainbow Garba night, Ormiston Senior College
- New Zealand Multicultural Arts Association – $1,300 – multicultural music and art showcase, Pakuranga
- Wushu Development of New Zealand – $1,253.40 – youth kung-fu wushu programme
- Meadowlands Sports and Recreation Charitable Trust – $1,250 – computer system upgrade
- Amornrat Pothipat – $1,000 – free school holiday clay art, Pakuranga Library
- Howick East Combined Probus Club – $1,000 – assisted transport for members
- Howick Village Association – $1,000 – Village Hop bollard covers
- Calvert & Donaldson – $1,000 – SEW JAM community sewing, Nixon Park
- Libretto Trust – $1,000 – sound equipment, children’s musical theatre
- Life Education Trust Counties Manukau – $1,000 – school wellbeing programmes
- New Zealand Overseas Cultural & Arts Centre – $1,000 – Matariki Stars of Unity, Botany
- PHAB Association (Auckland) – $1,000 – wellbeing and cooking programme, Pakuranga
- Ying-Pin LAN – $950 – youth guitar discovery series, Pakuranga Library
- Brain Play – $880 – community STEM sessions in local libraries
- Jason (Peng) Wang – $600 – dragon beard candy making workshops, Highland Park
- KiwiOra Community Trust – $550 – Matariki kai literacy workshop, Highland Park Library
- Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust – $500 – cultural celebrations programme, venue hire
The unsuccessful applications
- Botany & Flat Bush Ethnic Association – sought $5,000 – Summer Festival 2026 (Reason given by Board for decline: ineligible due to accountability issues)
- Action Education – sought $4,000 – spoken word poetry in local schools (Reason given by Board for decline: low priority)
- Eastgate Christian Centre – sought $4,000 – Christmas walk-through lightshow (Reason given by Board for decline: funded through the work programme)
- Howick Tourism Incorporated – sought $4,000 – destination management plan scoping (Reason given by Board for decline: low priority in oversubscribed round)
- Volunteering Auckland Trust – sought $3,500 – local volunteering support (Reason given by Board for decline: low priority in oversubscribed round)
