Tour Aotearoa is one of the world’s great bikepacking trips - stretching 3,000 km from Cape Reinga to Bluff, it follows a combination of cycle trails, tracks, paths and lanes connected by country roads. In March of this year, George Bradfield, co-founder and trustee of Raukatauri, father to Hineraukatauri and husband of Dame Hinewehi Mohi, started the journey to complete the Tour Aoteroa bike ride in order to raise funds for Raukatauri.
George, Hinewehi and daughter Hineraukatauri.
“When our daughter Hineraukatauri was born, she was set an overwhelming number of physical and developmental challenges. Named after the Goddess of Music, it stands to reason, she loves music. Twenty years ago we had an opportunity to experience music therapy in London. Hineraukatauri’s response was immediate and filled with joy. Even with a tracheostomy tube in her throat, she sang with such happiness, it brought us to tears.” ”
Hineraukatauri's experience is what inspired Hinewehi and George to bring music therapy to Aotearoa, and as founders and trustees of the trust they consistently champion, support, fundraise and promote our work as well as the importance of music therapy practice in New Zealand. George's recent bike ride is just one more example of his incredible generosity, and his passion to share the intervention that so greatly impacted his daughter's life.
George's endeavour was more important than ever to the Trust being that due to the pandemic we have had to cancel all but one of our twelve planned fundraisers over the last two years. One of the Trust's fundamental values is that we never want finances to be a barrier to accessing music therapy, and with that in mind we subsidise every music therapy session that we provide. The remaining costs of delivering music therapy must be raised through grant applications, fundraisers, donations, and our monthly giving programme. This year we need to raise over $1,600,000 to keep the lights running and the music going. We would not be able to succeed in that without the support of people like George, who gave so much time and energy in this undertaking, as well as all of the incredibly generous people that donated to support this fundraiser.
George, along with a riding buddy, started at Cape Reinga on the first of March, and completed the massive journey of 3,084km at Bluff on the 2nd of April, overall raising a whopping $42,000! This total included an incredible $30,000 from one anonymous corporate donation. Everyone's support was overwhelming and the Raukatauri whānau could not be more grateful to George and to all of the people who gave. Every dollar counted, and does count, to providing music therapy services in Aotearoa.
“Aroha nui to our Trustees, supporters, funders, and everyone who’ve made it possible to share the gift of music with those who need it most.”
If you would also like to support the cause of bringing life changing music therapy to individuals in New Zealand, follow this link to check out our options for giving.