We all know that grandparents are pretty special, but Supergrans are even more fabulous! They invest their time and energy into helping improve the lives of families by empowering them with the skills to become self-sufficient. That’s a pretty cool granny!

The Supergrans Charitable Trust, based in Lower Hutt, was established in 1994. The idea for Supergrans came from the charitable trust Mature Employment, which had a lot of women on its books who wanted to keep busy while they were looking for work. Mature Employment asked Erin McMenamin to set up Supergrans, and the story starts there.

Supergrans work with families who need a little help. Be it with cooking, meal planning, sewing, gardening, cleaning, budgeting or the overall task of running a home, Supergrans go to the homes of their clients and help them to help themselves, rather than doing the work for them. The Supergrans meet regularly with their clients for a number of months until the family feels confident that they can maintain their new skills.

By 2001 the Supergrans scheme had spread to more than half a dozen other regions around New Zealand. Meanwhile the Lower Hutt Supergrans were still working hard, seeing around 1,200 family members every year.

In 2001 this success was rewarded, as the Supergrans Charitable Trust won the Supreme Award at the Hutt City Community Awards, which are sponsored by the Community Trust of Wellington and Wellington International Airport. Supergrans then went on to win the Wellington Regional Community Awards and represent the region at the TrustPower National Community Awards, held in March 2002.

Supergrans Charitable Trust Manager Erin McMenamin says their win at the Community Awards had a huge impact on the organisation.

“We received a lot of publicity following the Community Awards and as a result we had enquiries from people from all over the country who were interested in learning more about the Supergrans concept. It has been a wonderful way to promote our work.”

Since then Supergrans has continued to grow in terms of the number of families the service reaches as well as the types of help the Supergrans provide.

Today, Supergrans programmes are run in ten regions in New Zealand, as well as in Canberra, Australia. Erin is also speaking with community representatives from Queensland, Australia, who are interested in setting up the Supergrans concept there. Supergrans also has a head office based in Lower Hutt, Wellington.

While affiliated with the national organisation, the regional Supergrans groups are autonomous and each has a paid co-ordinator. Volunteers, however, are still the driving force behind the organisation.

“While we apply for funding for paid coordinators, the major component of Supergrans naturally relies on our volunteers.

“We have 16 Supergran volunteers in Lower Hutt and I am about to embark on an advertising campaign to find some more!” says Erin.

Erin says it is getting harder and harder to attract volunteers to take on the title of Supergran.

“Many of the kind of people we are looking for are still in paid employment, and that makes it more difficult to attract those people to volunteering. The age of our Supergrans ranges from mid-forties to 80,” says Erin.

The Supergrans receive training on issues such as first aid, budgeting, privacy and recognising the signs of child abuse, but Erin says they provide no training on how to set up and run a home.

“These volunteers are all grandparents and they have already successfully raised their families. They know how to be homemakers,” says Erin.

That is in contrast with the people they help, many of whom Erin says have simply never been taught how to run a household. She says these families are referred to Supergrans through a variety of agencies such as Child Youth and Family, social workers, food banks and school counsellors, as well as through self-referral.

Erin says the families they help today have more complex problems than ever before.

“In its early days Supergrans focused on giving families cleaning and cooking skills, but now we are doing a lot more advocacy work – sorting out problems with Work and Income New Zealand, helping with medical problems, and all on top of our core services. It is taking longer and more effort to get these families back on track,” says Erin.

Lower Hutt Supergrans has also started running cooking courses for teenagers.

“If we can get to the teenagers at this early stage they are not going to become parents who don’t know anything about running a home,” says Erin.

Erin believes the success of Supergrans is party due to its name, which invokes images of warm, fuzzy grannies going into homes to help younger people. But Supergrans success isn’t just demonstrated by its growth – it’s illustrated by the families which have used the service.

“We have some amazing success stories. Families whose lives have changed for the better and whose children have improved attitudes, schooling and health as a result of the Supergrans programme. That’s where we get our job satisfaction from!” says Erin.

For more information about Supergrans Charitable Trust go to www.supergran.org.nz or contact Erin McMenamin on 04 566 9778 or by emailing erin@supergran.org.nz .