We are not the only ones who believe in the power of storytelling; Lots of Little Fires has just been awarded the Community Research ‘Billie Award’ for Strengths Based Storytelling. Joe Wilson will travel down to Pōneke to receive this award in October. We thank all the incredible people and communities who have so vulnerably told their stories and trusted us to share with you all.  This award is absolutely yours, for the heart, mana and mahi you do in your communities. Ngaa mihi nui.

Last month we released a beautiful story celebrating the resilience and mana of the young parents at He Puaawai Teen Parent Unit. This story has received an incredible response and through Gill Cotter, Curriculum Lead, has resulted in the Minister for Education to be invited to learn more about the young parents' story and situations.

Also, as a direct result of this story, we have connected He Puaawai with the amazing Twenty-20 Sustainable Housing, (who are our next story release this week!) and together, along with Joe Wilson, are working with MHUD to source and secure houses for the young parents to live in and rent together to relieve them from their dire current living situations.

This is so exciting and the action of achieving actual change for the lives of these brave young parents because of connecting and supporting our little fires stories is testament to proving that flipping the script, celebrating success in our community and raising awareness can and does lead to actual change.

For more information contact Joe at joe@waikatowellbeingproject.com.