Apollo Projects have been laying the foundations for the future of sport in Hawke’s Bay.
They’re the design and construction team behind the indoor Olympic pool coming soon to Mitre 10 Park, and are also working on extending the courts at Pettigrew Green Arena.
But creating locations where sport can be played is only part of the puzzle. They’re investing in ensuring the facilities they build will be filled with players for years to come. More than $400,000 of funding has been pumped into thirteen secondary schools across Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Taranaki, working from the bottom up to remove barriers to participation in sport.
Apollo worked together with schools to marry their needs with what they had to offer. Successful applications funded uniforms, equipment, transportation, entry fees and individual athletic scholarships to help the sports stars of the future realise their dreams.
Tamatea High School’s badminton teams received $3,000, allowing them to purchase rackets and shuttles, uniforms and nets, and to pay their competition fees.
Hastings Boys’ High School, an institution renowned for its sporting prowess, was also successful. Principal Rob Sturch was pleased, saying, “Being a low decile school in a low socioeconomic area, we know that our families struggle financially on a day-to-day basis, let alone trying to pay for activities like sport. With this sponsorship we can lessen the burden to some families and help the boys to get to their full potential both on the sporting field and in the classroom.”
The initiative is made possible by collaboration with NZ Sports Collective, the institution best known for bringing together two things close to many Kiwi hearts and hearths – sports and television. Their founder, Olympic gold medal rower and all-around sporting legend, Rob Waddell, heads up the project. Waddell finds it ‘rewarding to see the funding going to schools
where it will make the most difference for young people.’
Apollo certainly seem committed to an ongoing programme of philanthropy in the region, since establishing a permanent office and staff here last year. They’re looking to increase and expand the fund which is just one of their charitable projects here in the Bay.
They also sponsor the Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction, one of Cranford Hospice’s major fundraisers. Apollo co-director, Paul Lloyd is “incredibly proud to be making a difference and giving back to the communities we work with.”
For a company that is dramatically altering the physical landscape of our region – building parks and pools, cold stores and winery refineries – it is laudable that they should also concern themselves with the social landscape in which they work.
I am so proud as an American to know these wonderful people as part of my family. It’s not all about making money, its helping those less fortunate. This is showing young people that they are important and very much needed for the future of your country. Apollo stands strong for their community and their actions prove this. Paul Lloyd is a man of his word, a role model and a true humanitarian. New Zealand is a wonderful country and should be proud to call Apollo one if their own.