Simpson Grierson hailed as generous friend of youth charity

SIMPSON GRIERSON has demonstrated its commitment to supporting young New Zealanders, with the donation of $25,000 to a leading youth development agency.

“This is the fifth year running that we have made this amount available to Youthline, as part of our policy of supporting organisations with values similar to our own and which are making a positive impact on the community,” said the firm’s Chairman, Kevin Jaffe. “It’s appropriate for a firm of our size and status to show some leadership in the field of corporate responsibility.”

Simpson Grierson’s involvement with Youthline goes beyond signing an annual cheque and includes in-house fundraising efforts, with staff joining in enthusiastically, said Jaffe. For the last few years, the Chairman, a partner, and other staff have dressed themselves up as ‘Youthline Trolley Dollies’ and wandered round the firm’s Auckland and Wellington offices with a trolley full of cakes, which they have sold to raise money.

Founded in 1970, Youthline provides a nationwide network of services, aimed at helping young people reach their full potential. The organisation’s flagship helpline service receives around 100,000 calls each year, via telephone, text, or email. In addition, Youthline provides a wide range of counselling options, youth worker services, seminars, social enterprise activities, and other programmes, which are used by many thousands across New Zealand.

A key Youthline focus is on encouraging and facilitating young people as they take on leadership, advocacy, and other roles within the organisation and beyond. “Youthline is funded primarily through charitable donations and could not continue its work without them,” said Youthline CEO Stephen Bell. “We are extremely grateful to Simpson Grierson for being such a reliable and generous friend to Youthline. They are making a very real contribution to New Zealand’s young people and, through them, to our country’s future.”

NZLawyer, 22 January 2010