West Auckland Parents Centre

We are part of a national organisation and are one of over 50 Parents Centres nationwide.

West Auckland Parents Centre have recently been able to celebrate two big successes that came within weeks of each other. Firstly, our hard working and dedicated committee won the 'Infratil - Waitakere City Community Awards' category for Health and Wellbeing and were consequently able to bank a cheque for $500 which will go into our house building account. This award recognises the sheer amount of work gone into building the centre into a community force to be reckoned with. The committee has grown larger and stronger, we offer more and have had an amazing 18 months where we starting moving forward again rather than standing still. In her awards speech, Councillor Judy Lawley stated that she was simply amazed by the amount of volunteer work that we do as a committee and that was a big factor in us winning the award.

Hot on the heels of that success we won the 'Bigger and Better' Award at the Parents Centre New Zealand Inc AGM. Even though it was an electronic AGM and we were unable to party that night, the committee made sure that bubbles and decadent chocolate cake were on hand at the next committee meeting to celebrate out two amazing awards. Both of these awards were confirmation that we are a committee who have grown both as individuals, and as a group over the past 18 months. What these awards will not tell you is the full story of how we have come from a place where the committee was shrinking and the new leadership was drowning. They will not tell you how we as people have grown through the work that we have done for WAPC and the amazing friendships we have generated and the people we have met. We only hope that other centres have the chance to experience the same sort of journey and transformation. There have been big and small achievements, but the biggest achievement of all is that we have an immense sense of pride and accomplishment in what WAPC represents and what we have done. We might all have moments on our committee when we feel there is too much to do, but we know that we can be honest with each other, that we rally around and we have every right to be proud of what we have done. So a big thanks go to the committee, and most especially our members who have supported us!

We offer the following four core services to our members:

• Childbirth Education (antenatal courses)
• Parent Support
• Parent Education
• Advocacy/Lobbying for parenting, birthing and families

Our mission: Positive birth experiences and informed parenting in a community where parents are supported and highly valued in their role.

Contact us or email info@westaucklandparents.org.nz to find out more about West Auckland Parents Centre and the services we offer.