Our Good on ya Mate candidate this month is a company that puts its money where its mouth is to support the Hutt Valley‘s Te Omanga Hospice, a charitable organisation that is there for people when they most need them.

Macaulay Metals finance and commercial manager Rachel Lavis said they really enjoyed working with the hospice and were thrilled to be nominated for New Zealand Trucking magazine‘s Good on ya Mate award. “Te Omanga was the charity partner for the second
HighLight: Carnival of Lights this year and we have been involved by creating a lighting installation both years. This year we worked in conjunction with Real Steel from Upper Hutt to create Colin the T-Rex from steel plate. We also ran a ‘scrap for charity‘ promotion through our public buying sheds and held a fundraising sausage sizzle onsite in the lead up to HighLight as well.”

Photo: Strutting his stuff in public. Colin represents the time and effort of so many, given for the betterment of their Hutt valley community.

Macaulay Metals donated 100% of the scrap‘s value – $4,510.16 – to the hospice. The sausage sizzle and donation boxes together raised $688.40, and the Trade Me auction of Colin added a whopping $33,200 to the total.
“We are extremely grateful for the support of local businesses in our community like Macaulay Metals,” said Te Omanga Hospice chief executive Biddy Harford. “We loved Colin the T-Rex and were amazed by the result of the auction on Trade Me. The funds raised will go towards rebuilding our earthquake-prone hospice in the Hutt Valley.” Rachel said Macaulay Metals had been operating from their head office in the Hutt Valley for 60 years in 2019, and partnering with local charities is something that really resonates with the company.

Photo: At the Carnival of lights. Colin‘s benefactors certainly get their teeth into supporting the community they‘re part of.

“Many of our staff live in the Hutt, so pretty much all of us know someone who has used the hospice‘s services at some point. The fact that Te Omanga needed funds for their earthquake related rebuild on top of trying to support their regular care activities meant that we were keen to try and raise as much money for them as possible.
“It was thanks to the generosity of Jeff Harris and Luke Mathieson (owners of Macaulay Metals and Real Steel respectively) that the Trade Me auction happened – not to mention the good people at Central Forklifts, Quality Demolition and Titan Cranes who have helped with moving Colin around the place.”

If you‘d like to support Te Omanga Hospice, the link to donate by text is still live. TXT REBUILD to 833 to donate $3 to the hospice. (Please note: Each text message regardless of message content, sent to the code 833, will automatically charge your mobile account $3. Please ask the bill payer or mobile account holder. Texts not included in any text bundle agreement.)