Photography: Jae Frew.
They might be some of New Zealand’s best-known faces, but they’re also mums whose hearts break for the one-in-five Kiwi children for whom poverty is a reality.
Dame Trelise Cooper, Toni Street, Matilda Green, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Antonia Prebble all sponsor a child through Variety – The Children’s Charity in the hope of transforming young lives.
As the women come together for a special Weekly photoshoot to shine a light on sponsorship – there were also a few oohs and ahhs as Toni rocked Heather’s newborn daughter to sleep! – they agree that as parents, it’s our role to try and shield our kids from adult burdens.
Variety’s Kiwi Kid Sponsorship matches a financially disadvantaged child with a sponsor to provide yearly funding for essentials, school-related costs and extra-curricular activities.
It currently has more than 3000 children on its sponsorship waiting list. Rising unemployment and the cost-of-living crisis have amplified the already heightened burden on caregivers.
If you haven’t yet read about Dame Trelise’s experience with Variety, find her full story here.
To hear from Toni Street, Matilda Green, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Antonia Prebble, continue reading.
To sponsor a child, visit variety.org.nz.
Antonia Prebble
Actor Antonia is the first to admit she is not the most confident cyclist.
However, this didn’t stop her from saying an enthusiastic “yes” to leading a biking trip through Vietnam to fundraise for Variety – The Children’s Charity.
It came about after her friend and fellow Outrageous Fortune actor Shane Cortese rang her in a bit of a panic one day.
“He was supposed to be leading the cycle trip to raise money for children and families affected by the Christchurch earthquake,” recalls Antonia, 40.
“But six weeks before they were due to go, he had a work commitment come up. Shane called me to ask, ‘Do you want to be a Variety ambassador? And secondly, do you want to go to Vietnam?’
“I said, ‘Absolutely!’ even though at that point my skill level was not great.”
The unforgettable trip saw her riding up to 90 kilometres a day, through busy roads and rural villages by paddy fields.
“Let’s just say it was quite a unique and intense introduction to the charity,” says the bubbly mum of two energetic boys, Freddie, five, and Gus, three.
Since then, the Double Parked star has been a longtime Kiwi Kid sponsor.
“I started when she was four and now she’s in high school,” tells Antonia. “She sends me letters telling me what she’s up to and what her interests are. It’s been lovely to get this little window into how she’s growing up.”
A passionate supporter of Variety, Antonia adds that child poverty in this country is getting worse.
“The level of need can be overwhelming. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to do to help, but sponsoring a child is something that has an immediate and tangible positive effect on a child’s life.”
Now that her eldest son has just started school, she and her actor-husband Dan Musgrove love getting to know other families in the community.
“Freddie had his first after-school playdate yesterday. I was like, ‘Look at you, big boy, socialising without me,’” laughs Antonia. She’s working on season four of her successful podcast What Matters Most with co-host Jacqui Maguire.
“Since having kids, my priorities around my life and work have changed a lot. Turning 40 makes you take stock and for me, I feel so much gratitude for the relationships in my life.”
Toni Street
Often, kids that get given a lot are surrounded by other kids who get a lot. And it’s important to educate them as parents that that’s not necessarily the norm.”
Popular radio personality Toni is talking about a valuable lesson she’s never forgotten from her sporty childhood that she’s now passing on to her three children, Juliette, 12, Mackenzie, nine, and Lachie, six.
“When I was 12, there was a girl who was the best player in my netball team, whose family was really hard up,” reveals the New Plymouth-born star. “I remember my mum having conversations about her with me when I was asking for the latest netball shoes.
“Mum said, ‘Toni, you realise she might not have a pair of sports shoes. Her parents are going to have to scrape money together just to pay the sports fees.’
“I will use it as an example if my kids are having a ‘spoilt’ day,” says the 41-year-old.
Toni and husband Matt France have also talked to their children about why they sponsor a boy through Variety. They also read his letters, which are put on the family’s fridge.
While Toni was hosting TV’s Seven Sharp more than 10 years ago and the programme was helping raise awareness for the charity, she began sponsoring her first child.
“He was a little boy in South Auckland whose immigrant parents didn’t have a lot of money. Then they had the terrible luck of their house burning down,” explains the Coast breakfast host. “So they were in quite a state having to rebuild their lives from scratch.
“He’s now studying at university and grew out of the sponsorship programme, so we recently got a new Kiwi Kid. It shows that you’ve got quite a small window in a child’s life to make an impact which can set them up for the rest of their lives.”
Toni has always been passionate about children having extra-curricular activities. She has seen how significant things like theatre and sports can be for building self-esteem.
She is also “attempting” to play premier netball again for the first time in a long while.
“To think kids couldn’t play a sport because they didn’t have the correct shoes is heartbreaking to me because joining a team can change your life in so many ways,” she tells.
Matilda Green
This month, things are shifting in Matilda’s busy young household. After working from home and being with her kids most of the day, Matilda has taken over as Drive co-host on The Hits to cover for PJ Harding, who is on maternity leave.
The 34-year-old has a successful podcast, Untidy, but has never done radio before. The challenge leaves her feeling nervous and excited.
“It’ll be a big change for our family and it was a big decision to accept because I’ll be gone from midday til 7.30pm,” says the mum-of-three to Milo, five, Autumn, three, and Penelope, one, whom she shares with husband Art, 36. “I’ll be missing the dinner and bedtime routine, which is really special to me.”
She laughs when it’s suggested that some mothers might be glad to miss that time of day.
“I know!” she tells. “It’s the classic thing of being a parent and going, ‘This is so hectic, I could use a break from it.’ And then you get a break and you want to go back to them. There’s no winning. There’s no perfect balance. Everyone is juggling something. That’s what I’ve come to realise.”
Luckily, adds Matilda, Art is a hands-on dad.
“I feel like the kids prefer him anyway,” she smiles, “so it might be a win for them.”
The couple decided to sponsor a Kiwi Kid through Variety after starting their own family, being acutely aware of how privileged their kids are and wanting to do something tangible to help a child who wasn’t as lucky.
“I read a letter that a young boy wrote to them, which shook me to my core,” she recalls. “He was talking about how stressful it was for his single mum, who works so hard. But he felt worried they weren’t going to have power or any food after school.
“It broke my heart. That is something a child shouldn’t have to worry about. It’s not the parent’s fault. We’re all dealt a hand and we do the best we can with that hand.”
Matilda’s sponsored child is 11 and lives up north with her grandma. The little girl sends her letters and even handmade decorations at Christmas.
“It feels like we are connected on some level even though we’ve never met,” says Matilda.
Heather du Plessis-Allan
As broadcaster Heather breastfeeds her five-week-old baby girl Mackay, she stares down at her gorgeous tot and says she can’t ever imagine asking her children to go without food.
But during her pregnancy last year, when the radio host was interviewing someone from Variety, a heart-breaking story about a little Northland boy whose father had to do just that impacted her.
The eight-year-old was one of three boys in the family. Their dad asked each of them what meal they would give up in the week to make the budget work.
“And the boy chose Sunday morning. He figured that at least he’d be able to steal some food from church to supplement his meals that day,” shares Heather, 40.
“It would be the fourth meal he’d be skipping that week. I was talking to the charity worker as a journalist, but I just stopped her. I said, ‘I have to sponsor this kid.’”
Heather’s childhood in South Africa and moving to West Auckland at eight years old featured some tough times growing up.
“We were really poor and yeah, I was aware I had very little,” recalls Heather, who is on maternity leave from hosting Newstalk ZB’s Drive show.
“I remember one of my best friends had this grey Adidas hoodie and all I wanted was one like hers,” she remembers. “Yet we couldn’t afford anything like that. I never got new clothing and nothing with a label.
“But that’s okay because it’s taught me to be disciplined with money. My mum was a very capable woman. She made sure we always had enough for food and electricity but nothing more.”
Now, as a mother-of-two, Heather – who is married to senior political correspondent Barry Soper – says she’s more aware of how vulnerable these “little dudes” are.
She has also happily resigned herself to the chaos of life with a newborn and toddler instead of trying to fight it. Of course, it helps that their son Iggy, three, is also proving to be a loving big brother.
“Before his sister was born, I was Iggy’s number- one girl,” she tells. “I would walk into the room and no one else mattered – it was just ‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!’
“Now I’m chopped liver!” she laughs. “He just wants to pat her head and give her kisses. When she was crying today, he goes, ‘Baby, it’s okay, it’s just me.’ He’s genuinely in love.”
To sponsor a child, visit variety.org.nz.
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