Love, Matt
Kia ora UniCrew,
It is over eight years ago now when you took in an unsure boy whose world was limited to a rural valley in NZ, and for four years gave him a caring and supportive family. Through Aspire, SLA and many other programmes, you and your family opened his eyes to the communities around him, empowered him to get involved and made him believe in himself.
You allowed me the chance to build something for others with my own head and hands, something I could leave behind for others to improve and grow. Something that empowers others in the way you empowered me. Something I am proud of.
Eight years on, and yet your impact still resonates daily. As a Senior Advisor at MSD, supporting people who need help, not a day goes by without the mark you made on me being clear. The confidence to make my voice heard, the courage to face daunting challenges and the calmness when suddenly things need doing, yesterday!
Ownership is big for me at the moment. Why should I wait in the hope someone else does something? If I can, I should. Even if I can’t, there exist passionate people out there, and as a collective we will be able to. You taught me this. Not through a written guide, manual or even spoken, it is simply part of your DNA and I am hoping, starting to be part of mine.
I tell others about you. I tell them that you showed me a part of me I didn’t know before. Like a second dessert stomach, there is now a part of me that no matter how full my life is, can only be satisfied when I am involved in my community like you showed me how I could be. And like my dessert stomach, that part is incredibly satisfying to fill.
Finally, you also managed to teach me, a rigid and logical economist in training, that my textbooks are wrong – ‘utility’ is not net zero. Instead, there do exist people, actions and organisations that can and do make people, whānau and communities better off without anyone losing out. You were, and continue to be, a living embodiment of that.
I will be forever grateful to you.
Until we meet again,
Matt