Community
+ ON THE EDGE
The ON THE EDGE Trust is a social enterprise with the primary focus of sharing leadership insights, tools, resources, practical solutions and ideas with other leaders. It is led by a group of young people who have a passion for the growth of leadership in this generation. School leaders established the Trust in 2003, seeking to redefine youth leadership in Wellington. This initial momentum was led by Ben Irving, Head Prefect at Rongotai College in 2003.
The Trust was developed with two main objectives. The first was to motivate and inspire all Secondary School students in the Wellington region through empowering and developing several passionate leaders in each college. Secondly, by working with these students at an individual level, giving them the life skills and drive essential to success, they would be ‘unleashed’ to make a difference in their communities and New Zealand in unique and creative ways.
The ON THE EDGE Trust is passionate about inspiring young people of all cultures and backgrounds to have a positive impact on their communities.
iCAN, is an example of our recent success, is a youth-run initiative created to inspire community action. An example of this initiative was the recent donation of thousands of cans of food. The project was developed by a group of young leaders from the Wellington region at the 2009 ON THE EDGE Leadership Conference. Through a creative ideas competition, the young leaders were challenged to design an event that would showcase youth leadership and make a significant difference in their community. Sensitive to the economic struggle for many Wellington families during winter, the young leaders saw an opportunity to serve the community through supporting local food charities whilst attempting a Guinness World Record. Not only did the young leaders confidently break the world record but the Salvation Army, City Mission and SPCA drove away with more than 25 truckloads of food for Wellington families in need.
iCAN represents the potential this young generation has to support and enrich the lives of those in our community. It is an example of the positive impact young people can have when they come together under a common goal. iCAN is an exciting story about passionate community engagement and one that is waiting to be told in every community throughout New Zealand.
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