A mountain of butter is on its way to a Canterbury school.
The five tonnes of Westgold butter - more than 19,000 250-gram blocks - will be distributed by the Leithfield School after its most successful fundraising venture ever.
‘‘It really took off and went from being a small local fundraiser to a large regional one,’’ says Leithfield School principal Rob Cavanagh.
He says it was just timing and social media which drove the venture to new heights. Due to unprecedented demand, the date for the final online butter orders was brought forward from June 23 to June 6.
The butter collection dates will be communicated via email or text message.
It is thought a combination of increased public comment online about the rising price of butter, coupled with an announcement the cheapest butter in New Zealand was supplied to Costco in Auckland by the Hokitika-based Westgold dairy company, drove the success when the school’s fundraiser was discovered online offering identically priced blocks of the cheaper butter, supported by Westgold.
It all contributed to making the school's fundraiser a success.
‘‘We’ve had emails and calls from all over the country, some from as far away as Tauranga and the Hawke's Bay,’’ says Cavanagh.
He says at the start of each year the school’s board of trustees fundraising committee prepares a list of things and activities they will be raising money for to help supplement the school's finances.
‘‘They help us out financially, raising what they can in the community to support the activities of our students.
For each block of butter sold, a dollar goes towards the fundraising goal.
‘‘We decided to take it on instead of the usual chocolates or biscuits type of fundraiser.’’
They sold the 250-gram charity blocks of Westgold butter for $4 and the school receives $1.
‘‘We had no idea how popular it would become,’’ says Cavanagh.
‘‘Once it hit social media it took off and when we closed it two weeks ago we had sold over 19,000 blocks of butter.’’
Cavanagh says the more than $19,000 raised has now taken care of all the requests for funding the BoT fundraising committee was looking at this year.
‘‘It’s amazing, this year there were six different funding requests and now we can meet them all, and still have some money left over for other projects.’’
These include stationery subsidies for pupils, shortfalls in school camp expenses, new kapa haka uniforms, student council seminars, supporting the establishment of a new writing programme at the school and other expenses.
‘‘It’s been amazing and great for people to be able to support the school and get a bargain as well.
‘‘Next year we hope that despite the company raising the price of the butter last week, people will continue to support the school’s fundraising efforts, which all goes to aid in the continued development of our students.’’
