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

Our first charity is The Neonatal Trust who provide support and resources to thousands of families with premature babies or full-term babies who condition or illness require admission to a Neonatal Unit each year.

Recently, some of our crew had the opportunity to go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Wellington Hospital and meet Dr Max Berry. Max is a Neonatal Consultant and a Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, who works closely with The Neonatal Trust.

Max is a bit like a real life superhero. In between ward rounds, meeting with colleagues and families, teaching, reviewing and writing reports and submitting grant applications, she’s spending time with her family. When Max’s son was born, during her stay in Wellington Hospital, she still found the time to continue her rounds in the middle of the night, taking care of the babies currently in the NICU ward.

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. Dr Max Berry and her team of researchers and clinicians are pioneering how a baby’s early life environment influences their long-term health. Undertaking some remarkable work into the enhanced understanding of the long-term impacts of prematurity, to give the littlest of babies the biggest fighting chance.

Every piece of research Dr Max Berry and her team do requires funding, and each application requires hours of paperwork to prove why the research is critical. Unfortunately, even if there’s a good case for the research, if there’s not enough money to go around, important projects go without funding.

That’s where Powershop customers have been able to make a huge difference. Though the Power for Good Powerpack, customers are able to donate roughly $2 for ever $10 of power they buy, meaning you can chip in for charity while topping up your power.

We’ve been blown away by the generosity of our customers, who have so far donated over $14,000. This has allowed The Neonatal Trust to be able to say yes to supporting a new block of work for an important research programme Max and her team are running, which was previously unable to get funding. All thanks to the generous donations from Powershop customers.

We here at Powershop feel privileged to have such loyal customers who will do their bit to help New Zealand’s next generation. From all of us, to all of you who have donated, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Learn more about the world-leading research occurring in New Zealand.