In 2001 the Malcam Charitable Trust won the Supreme Award at the TrustPower Dunedin Community Awards.  Since then, the Trust has grown to be one of the most amazing success stories the Community Awards has ever produced.

So prepare to be inspired!  Here is the Trust’s story…

The Malcam Trust was set up in 1998 to meet the needs of at-risk young people in Dunedin.  Trust founder and CEO Malcolm Cameron didn’t think his city was dealing with these kids in the appropriate way, and he says he was arrogant enough to think he could do it better!

The Trust’s first programmes were the New Zealand Conservation Corps and the Youth Service Corps.  These programmes, which continue today, are each run twice a year with young people aged between 18 to 24 who are low in self-esteem and need a hand to get to a level where they can seek work.  The programmes, which contain a mixture of education, challenging recreation and community work, are sponsored by the Ministry of Youth Development.

“The young people involved in these programmes have good skills, they are just not aware that they have them.  Many have no positive role models and tend to adopt an at-risk lifestyle.  Through the programmes we get these young people out of their unhealthy peer groups and relationships and show them a better way of life,” says Malcolm.

One year later, the Trust started adding new courses to meet the needs of the community. 

Services Academy at Logan Park High School was established for students with an interest in Government services, such as police, navy, customs or the army.  This full year course involving education, services drills and challenging outdoor activities is still being run today and is responsible for turning many young lives around.

The Trust now also runs the CHOICE programme for 13 to 15 year olds who have been excluded from the school system.  Through CHOICE, these young people are given an education as well as being taught essential skills such as cooking, budgeting and literacy.  The CHOICE programme allows young people a safe place to address the behavioural issues that saw them removed from the formal education system – always with a view to being able to return to school.

In addition, the Trust has added a third New Zealand Conservation Corps programme to its schedule.  This programme is a semi-residential programme, where the young people spend Monday to Friday living together in Central Otago working for organisations such as the Department of Conservation, Manorburn Dam Committee and the Roxburgh Health Camp.  The young people participating on this course have the added benefit of learning all independent living skills while they live, cook, clean and learn to respect the environment during their 20 weeks together.

One of the Trust’s biggest success stories is the For Trades Apprenticeship Programme, which is a partnership between the Trust, industry and young people.  Through For Trades, the Trust directly employees young people and then hires them out to businesses on secondment.  The For Trades programme has now been set up as a separate Trust in its own right and has expanded from its Otago base into Canterbury.  For Trades now has around 90 young employees!

Malcolm Cameron says it’s amazing the sense of self-esteem and growth that these young people get from receiving a pay packet at the end of the week.

“The young people we are working with have spunk!  They are skilled and intelligent and once we get them on the right track they turn out to be super kids, super employees and, in many cases now, super parents,” says Malcolm.

The Malcam Trust is also responsible for the establishment of many other programmes that have now been taken on by other organisations or have been established as separate Trusts.  These include Neighbourhood Support and Supergrans and the Bargain Barn in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

The Trust also works with other organisations on various community projects.  One example is the TrustPower Lend A Hand Foundation, which is a partnership between the Malcam Trust and the Rotary Club of St Kilda.  The Foundation raises funds to support individuals and small community groups in need.  Since being established three years ago, the TrustPower Lend A Hand Foundation has donated around $20,000 to the community.

Funding for the Malcam Trust comes from many sources, including government agencies, corporate sponsorship (TrustPower is one of its sponsors), grants and fundraising.

Malcolm Cameron says the Trust came of age the night they won the Supreme Award at the TrustPower Dunedin Community Awards.

This Group of young people canoed over and spent a night on Pigeon Island in Glenorchy/Queenstown.

This is one of six groups of young people that were competing on the Taieri Challenge Rafting Day run by Wild Earth Adventures.

The Central Otago Conservation Corps group biking the Otago Rail Trail as part of their team building activities.

Students chopping firewood for the Paradise Charitable Trust in Glenorchy where we stay for 10 days and get to learn about living without power/tv/computers and phones!!!

“From that night on we had the licence to say on funding applications that we were an award winning Trust.  It’s one of the vehicles that put wheels under us!”

The Trust has continued its award winning ways, being named New Zealand Charitable Trust of the Year in 2004.

Furthermore, Malcolm Cameron has been chosen as the only South Islander to be part of the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, which is a group of fifteen outstanding change-makers who are participating in a peer learning community aimed at developing wisdom and effectiveness in creating social innovations. The Fellowship, which was established in 2006 by Stephen Tindall, meets on retreat every six months to share aspirations and experiences and to explore the skills of social enterprise.

Malcolm says he initially thought the Malcam Trust would be an eight year long project. He hoped that by 2006 they could eliminate the problems the Trust was established to fix.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.

“We are seeing a lot of young people that are not taking responsibility for their actions and families who need support to get their kids back on track.  We are continually working on new programmes to meet the needs of our community – a need that is greater today than it was when the Trust first began.”

While Malcolm admits they have their share of failures, it is clear the Trust’s work is making a huge impact.  To date the young people involved in the Trust have completed more than a third of a million hours of community work and the Trust boasts an 80% rate of positive outcomes.

While Malcolm Cameron is quick to say that the work he does is nothing without the Trust’s amazing funders, their wonderful staff and the young people who have the get up and go to do the programmes, it is clear Malcolm Cameron is the life-blood of this inspirational organisation.  Just talking to him and hearing his passion would inspire anyone to join his cause.

“I want my grandchildren to grow up in a community that is safe, one where they feel secure walking the streets at night.  To achieve this, we as individuals need to take action instead of relying on central and local government.  We need to put the community back into community and turn our cities back into villages.  I believe there are New Zealanders out there with the will to do that, and I am one of them.”

For more information on the Malcam Trust contact Malcolm Cameron on 03 477 4175, email him at malcam@malcam.co.nz or go to the Trust’s website, www.malcam.co.nz .