Grocery Charity Ball selects StarJam for 2009

This year, the Trustees of the Grocery Charity Ball were confronted with the daunting task of choosing the 2009 Beneficiary from the largest number of applicants ever - a whopping 68 New Zealand charitable trusts.

"It was a job that was not so much difficult because of the number of applications to work through," remarked beneficiary selection convenor Scott MacKay "But because all the trustees knew that in selecting one beneficiary, 67 other worthy causes were going to miss out."

"Getting the number down to a short list was probably the easier task." says Scott "After receiving formal presentations from the final 6, any one of them would have made excellent beneficiaries for the 2009 Ball. The really difficult job was deciding which 5 missed out."

But in the end, it was StarJam that got the nod. "They did a great presentation," says Scott. "They were both passionate and practical. We were impressed with what StarJam was achieving with very few resources - and it was obvious that the donation from the 2009 Ball would make a real difference to what they could accomplish in the future."

StarJam creates events and environments where people with disabilities can have the opportunity to express their gifts and talents - and the general public can in turn experience those gifts and talents.

Started in April 2002 when Julian Lloyd Webber (on a concert tour in New Zealand at the time) was invited to jam with 10 year-old Katherine Rees, StarJam was launched in November the same year with the inaugural “Stars Thru Their Eyes” show, which featured eight young people interviewing celebrities.

Since the launch, StarJam has produced eight major shows, performed at more than a dozen special occasions for conferences and events, as well as taken a number of young people on ‘jamming’ trips to the USA. The list of stars that have become involved with StarJam is a celebrity "who's who" - from Kiwis like Peter Jackson, Lucy Lawless and Dave Dobbyn - to international mega-stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and Dick Van Dyke.

The Grocery Charity Ball Trust is looking forward to working with StarJam, the Trust's seventh beneficiary, over the coming year.

More information can be found about StarJam at www.starjam.org.

Once again the grocery industry dug deep into its pockets at the 5th annual Grocery Charity Ball held in Auckland on Friday 26th September, and raised an amazing $150,000 for 2008 Beneficiaries 0800 What's Up and Hearing Dogs For Deaf People. 

"The money will be split 70:30 between What's Up and Hearing Dogs" says Trust Chairman Ross MacKenzie "What's Up will receive a cheque for $105,000, and Hearing Dogs will get the remainder - $45,000.

This year for the first time, the Food & Grocery Council (FGC) used the occasion of the annual get together of the industry to present Lifetime Achiever Awards to two recipients: Peter Burton and Peter Mitchell. 

In presenting the awards, Chairman of the FGC, Peter McClure made mention of the fact that sadly, Peter Burton had passed away a few weeks ago.  Both 'Peters' had made major contributions to the grocery industry going back over 40 years.

The 650 attendees at this year's ball were kept on their toes throughout the night by television presenter, 'Dancing With The Stars' Judge, and rugby league officionado Alison Leonard.  Alison ensured that the evening was yet again a fabulous gala night out, with the highlight being the entertainment surprise: the international violin trio, the String Divas (see www.thestringdivas.com).