Update March 2016: Money received, beach purchased and the process of making it part of Abel Tasman National Park has started. High five Duane and Adam.
Update 24/2/16: Double thumbs up New Zealand – tender offer accepted. Around 10% of pledges in a givealittle campaign aren’t honoured, hopefully this campaign will be different.
Update 12/2/16: The $2,000,000 target was reached on the evening of 12 February, nice one NZ! Pledges can still be made until 3pm Monday 15 February, the total won’t change from two million, so others participating in the tender process won’t know exactly what they’re up against – good work by Givealittle for making that possible.
I’d hoped the voices/pledges of over 33,000 people would mean the current owners would look favourably on the tender offer, however this article suggests their financial situation may not allow that to happen even if they wanted it to.
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Unless you’ve been on a technology free holiday you’ve probably already read or heard about the Givealittle campaign to buy 7 hectares of land in Awaroa, Abel Tasman National Park. If you haven’t heard, it began with two Kiwi guys dreaming about starting a campaign to buy the land so it could remain New Zealand owned forever. The land, which includes an 800 metre stretch of golden sand beach, is currently in private ownership and is for tender.
The Givealittle campaign has so far raised $1,665,116.70 of the $2,000,000 target and as one of the so far 26,563 pledgers I feel part of something really special. For me it’s not really about the land or the beach, which may sound odd to some, it’s about the power of a lot of people pledging a little to achieve something big. It’s amazing to think that if one in every two New Zealanders could pledge one dollar the target would be met and then some.
I’ve also been inspired by Duane and Adam (founders of the campaign) and all the pledgers, they’ve made me think that maybe I too can do something in future to change a situation that may leave me feeling powerless. And how great is it for children to know that we live in the kind of country where people can join together to try and buy a stunning patch of land and beach for them and future generations to come. To quote Duane -‘…. win or lose it has been a worthy endeavour’.
For further information there’s lots of well thought out questions and answers in the Q&A section on the Givealittle page (mostly underneath the spirited objections to Gareth Morgan’s offer). There’s also a Facebook page – Gift Abel Tasman Beach. If you don’t think you’ll ever sink your toes into the sand at Awaroa but would like a momento of an inspiring campaign you can buy a t-shirt, $10 from each one sold adds to the Givealittle total. Go New Zealand, there are four days left to pledge and so far 83% of the target has been achieved.
(I haven’t been to Awaroa, and from what I’ve read it’s best accessed by boat. I have been to Kaiteriteri Beach, a few bays around from Awaroa. Seriously Beautiful).
Kaiteriteri Beach
Kaiteriteri Beach