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Supporting our communities is a fundamental position that we have at Virgin Jewels. We look for genuine ways to uplift our communities through legitimate opportunities.

2021

July warm hats, scarves and gloves to our local Street Kai, a charity supporting homeless people in our community

Late February  local community support for one of our fav teachers who is facing a battle with cancer.

February Kind Hands Respite Care Cottage for kids with serious illness…giving parents a little break when things are so tough. We know it’s appreciated…

January Orange Sky supports people living on the street with real conversation, personal hygiene facilities, including hair cuts! & laundry facilities

2020

December we loved sending off a Christmas package of awesome Wrap Bracelets to our RAW girls

November have you heard of Awhina House? An awesome home for women to get their feet back on the ground when they have been homeless…

October Kia Kaha Box … an awesome little independent operation that sends care boxes of goodies out to organisations such as Women’s Refuge to offer a bit of aroha to women escaping from domestic violence. We love offering a little kindness.

2019

December Janine is a long time blood donor, and is aware that busy seasons like Christmas can mean higher demands on these community services. So off she went to donate to our local branch.

November FINALLY after a long wait Gin got a chance to speak to a group of women in Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility who RAW – Reclaiming Another Woman are mentoring in preparation for their release from prison. It was everything Gin hoped it would be & completely awesome to work with these ladies.

November we celebrated the Christmas season early by supporting Tauranga Shoebox with gifts for kids who may not otherwise get treats for the season. Gin has all girls so it was neat to purchase boy stuff!

October prepping up for our local school fundraiser ROM aka Ride On Mower Day in November, we gifted 100 wallets to be sold off to help raise funds for our kids’ school.

April is dedicated to RAW & the call out to support one of their awesome people Trish, who has just graduated from a Beauty Therapy course & is branching out into business under the great business leadership guidance from Annah Stretton herself.

March was in support of Cool Bananas again, new leadership sometimes means a little extra support may be appreciated so we did.

February  although it took us almost 2 months of the new year to get our ‘a into g’ lol! we finally managed to get a big goodies box together of all sorts of gorgeous Virgin Jewels items as gifts for the lovely staff in Unichem John’s Photo Pharmacy Tauranga! These guys were the first pharmacy to give us a chance a number of years ago now and have stood by us with awesome support for our little NZ owned and operated business. I often have customers get back to me about how the staff are great at sharing information about us regarding being a NZ business, local, and that we make a large percentage of what we sell. Thank you for building the brand with us Shelley, Kim and the team at John’s.

January sometimes kindness is closer to home and for the new year we have chosen to back my husband’s little nephew who is fighting cancer big time. Grayson is just 2 years old and such a little battler! When we all pitch in a little bit, the fabric of our community’s support becomes much stronger 🙂 and those who are struggling don’t feel like they are on their own. If you feel inclined to help Grayson please follow this link to his ‘givealittle’ profile page https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/graysons-transplant

2018

December this Christmas we choose to donate to Cool Bananas as they are such an encouraging force within our school communities in the Bay of Plenty. We (Janine) also have decided to donate blood to our local blood centre as we know that at this time of the year it is a much valued gift.

November we are supplying x50 goodie bag gifts to our local hair salon ‘Hair To Stare’ for a customer evening that they are running in November to appreciate their clientele. It is really nice to be part of a relaxed event where it is designed simply to bless others with a little something, to thank them for supporting local businesses such as ourselves 🙂 Hair to Stare donate their clients’ hair to be made into wigs for children with cancer & brooms! The brooms are great for cleaning up commercial oil spills. Cool eh!

September we offered to supply a selection of 60 plus gorgeous Handbags & Clutch Purses [‘Purses with a Purpose’]  if our supporters would rise to our challenge to help us fill them with women’s personal hygiene items. The Handbags, Purses & Cosmetic Purses were presented to the Head Girl, Lisa, of Tarawera High School [formerly Kawerau College, Bay of Plenty]. We wanted to encourage and support them in their endeavours to stay at school to achieve a good education. It is a privilege to have this opportunity to support the future women of New Zealand.

August we sent a large selection of scarves in response to the on-line call out RAW made to provide scarves for our NZ women for these cold winter months. RAW is a charitable social venture set up by Annah Stretton to work with recidivist female offenders to replace amplifying criminal activity with scholarshiped education and negotiated work. Annah and her sister Rebecca’s venture (RAW) is recognised by the Department of Corrections as the only model of this kind successfully breaking a cycle of crime, drugs and violence by targeting the mothers and their tamariki; giving them visibility, acceptance and real choice for a different way of life.

Feedback from Raewyn, the Store Manager for The RAW Store in Hamilton – “Beautiful beautiful scarfs arrived in The RAW Store , Hamilton- from Virgin Jewels. They have had an amazing response and sold incredibly well. Many thanks for such an awesome donation. Donations such as these give us opportunities to talk and inspire people about the RAW Organisation and how they help women readjust – search “Reclaiming Another Woman” for more information. Such a generous donation and genuine thanks from the Store Manager at The RAW Store to you all.”