TSB Good Stuff puts $250,000 behind nine brilliant ideas to benefit New Zealand communities
Howick’s Dr Angela Lim and Botany’s Stephen Lyon have been recognised in the TSB Good Stuff awards.
TSB has awarded nine grants totalling $250,000 to New Zealanders with great ideas to do good in Kiwi communities.
TSB Good Stuff provides kickstarter funds of up to $30,000 to Kiwis with a great idea that will solve problems and create benefits for the country.
“TSB was overwhelmed with thousands of applications pitching fantastic ideas to help New Zealand get back on its feet,” says CEO Donna Cooper.
“It was really encouraging to see New Zealanders positive focus when our country is in the middle of a challenging time because of Covid-19.
“Choosing our winners was a hard task, with Kiwis putting forward so many amazing concepts which we’d be proud to support as a bank that exists to use our profit for purpose to generate community good.
“Our TSB Good Stuff grant recipients are going to make a real difference across many different parts of our communities with their work.”
A number of the TSB Good Stuff grants will help successful applicants to develop innovative apps. These include helping to keep boaties safe on the water, improving child and adolescent health and wellbeing, helping people with disabilities to easily find accessibility information and actively supporting and educating people caring for loved ones suffering mental distress.
The grants will also give New Zealand kids in lower decile areas access to learning kits with online tutorials and fund an in-school education programme to teach coding.
As well as this, the grants will enable the launch of community cooking workshops to promote healthy eating and reduce obesity in Māori and Pasifika families, and the development of a new predator trap to support the Government’s Predator Free 2050 vision.
Our local recipients and their ideas:
Dr Angela Lim (Howick) and Michael Connolly – Clearhead mental health app chatbot (Auckland)
- Clearhead runs a mental health support platform, designed by NZ doctors, to empower New Zealanders to find the help they need using an artificial intelligence chatbot
- Since March 2020, Clearhead has seen record usage of its free online mental health platform, with a massive spike in anxiety-based concerns related to Covid-19 infection, domestic violence, difficulties, juggling life demands, and unemployment
- One of the key groups that reached out to Clearhead has been friends and family looking for advice on supporting their loved ones
- The TSB Good Stuff grant will support an extension of Clearhead’s current website and app, with the introduction of a new chatbot to support people caring for loved ones suffering mental distress with a step by step guide
Stephen Lyon – SeaSafe app (Botany)
- A marine safety app that provides position reporting to search and rescue organisations in case of emergency, plus other features
- Seasafe will help to keep boaties safer on the water and assist emergency services in emergency situations
- Stephen is currently working through IP processes and the TSB Good Stuff grant will go towards development of the app
