A group of kids from a decile one school in Porirua are proudly toting brand spanking new school bags thanks to a community give-back initiative implemented at this year’s BOINZ (Building Officials Institute of NZ) conference.

In keeping with the conference theme ‘Coming Together: Collaboration, Communication & Community’, delegates were given the chance to donate their conference bags back to BOINZ at the end of the event. And with sponsorship support from Winstone Wallboards, and a swag of big-hearted attendees, 76 high-quality backpacks made their way to children at Porirua East’s Windley School.

“We selected the school by reviewing all decile one schools near Wellington and chose the one with the highest roll count – based on the theory that the more students, the greater the need,” explains BOINZ Business Development and Media Production Manager Katie Page.

“We met with Principal Rhys McKinley last week. He was extremely grateful and said the Windley School students will definitely make use of them. They passed on a big thank you to BOINZ and the conference delegates for the kind donation.”

For BOINZ Premier Partner Winstone Wallboards, sponsoring the initiative was a no-brainer.

“Often at conferences you get bags filled with goodies, but many of them inevitably end up in the bottom of a cupboard at home. It was such a fantastic idea to instead donate the bags to kids who would benefit from them, and we were delighted to be a part of it,” says Winstone Wallboards Partnership Manager Clara Sumner.

“The industry talks a lot about giving back to the community, and these are the sorts of meaningful initiatives we should be doing more of.”