Today we launched ‘Power for Good,’ a way for you to chip in with a donation to a charity, while topping up your power.  

Here at Powershop, we are all about Power to the People and doing the right thing. The Power for Good Powerpack is just another way for us to deliver that, while supporting and giving voice to some worthy causes along the way. It’s a way for Powershop to use our power for good.

We’re proud to announce that our first charity is The Neonatal Trust. They are committed to ‘making a difficult start to life that little bit easier’ and have been helping thousands of families since 1997. We’ve always been about standing up for the little guy and you can’t get much littler than the guys these people are all about.

Did you know that over 5,000 babies have a difficult to start life in New Zealand each year? That’s where The Neonatal Trust come in.

Every year approximately 10% of all babies are born premature (before 37 weeks gestation) in New Zealand. That’s one premature baby born every 90 minutes.  There are also full-term babies whose condition or illness requires admission to a Neonatal Unit after they are born.

When we sat down with The Neonatal Trust executive director, Neil, he told us that they exist to support families through a really stressful time and provide help in a range of different ways to parents and families going through a pretty tough journey.

That journey is one our Acquisition Manager, Dan, and his partner, Emma, know first hand just how tough it can be, and how helpful and wonderful The Neonatal Trust are. In 2016 their son, Leo, was born at 31 weeks and 5 days . Emma’s waters broke at just 27 weeks, and she spent 5 weeks in hospital before Leo’s arrival.

Once Leo had arrived safely, he spent 6 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Wellington hospital where the team there did a great job of taking care of the necessities so that Dan and Emma could focus all their attention on Leo and his improving health.

One part of The Neonatal Trust story we love, is how parents who have been through the NICU before help by passing on their knowledge to new families, so no one goes through the journey alone or unsure. This is especially evident in the resources The Neonatal Trust provide to parents, that are written without clinical lingo and acronyms, so parents have the power to understand exactly what is being said regarding their children.

The Neonatal Trust also support neonatal research so the care of the babies in a Neonatal Unit is enhanced and more understood. An example of this is a recent study surrounding blood oxygen levels and the best way to enhance effectiveness – ultimately, this could help premature babies all over the world.

The Neonatal Trust is a charity that is light on paid staff – with seven part time staff in total throughout New Zealand – but heavy on committed volunteers, who help knit booties and hats for the babies, provide meals for the parents and who support families at the different stages of the journey. If you want to use your power for good and do your bit to help out, you can find the Power for Good/Neonatal Trust Top Up pack in the Shop, then enter the dollar amount you want to pay. It works out at roughly $2 donation and $8 Standard Power for every $10 you buy.  Note: The Power for Good/Neonatal Trust Top Up pack was only available until 16 September 2018 and is no longer in the Shop.

Hear more about The Neonatal Trust and Dan & Emma’s story below: