Community Involvement

As a business, we are privileged to work and operate in hundreds of communities around the world. With this privilege in mind, we actively seek out ways to involve ourselves in and support the communities we are part of.

By supporting existing charities and introducing our own initiatives, we look to foster the next generation of team members, suppliers and partners.
We are proud to support these exceptional organisations that channel so much to the children who are our future.

Books In Homes

Literacy is one of the most important foundations for success in school and later in life. The Duffy Books in Homes programme assists crucial early literacy engagement and the development of reading skills and habits needed for lifelong success.

Our community sponsorship of Books in Homes is something we have taken to the world as we have grown. We are happy to support so many schools worldwide and our relationship has been strong in New Zealand since the programme’s inception.

Books in Homes targets schools from remote or low socio-economic circumstances and provides three books of their choice to the children three times a year. These books are for the children to take home to build their own libraries

Since the official launch in 1995, Books in Homes have supplied over 12 million books to over 500 schools and to more than 100,000 students. The Books in Homes programme has inspired offshoot programmes in Australia and the USA.

We believe our time is as important as our money. Our team members are often present at the book giving assemblies and are involved in a mentoring programme, which allows our team to promote and encourage the enjoyment of learning by reading the books to the students.

Life Education Trust

The Life Education Trust was established in New Zealand in 1988. This charity seeks to help give young people the knowledge and skills to live a fulfilling and healthy life through their positive health-based education. Each year they take over 250,000 children through their mobile classrooms, teaching self-respect, respect for others and providing tools for healthy living.

We have been supporting The Life Education Trust for over 10 years and we hope our on-going support will allow them to continue to do their amazing work within our communities.

Bairds Mainfreight Primary

Bairds Mainfreight Primary is a school that is very close to our hearts. What started with Bruce Plested’s secretary, Carol Selwyn, contacting the school wanting to donate some unwanted sports gear, has turned into a long-standing relationship that has seen the school become a part of the Mainfreight family.

In 1993, Carol reached out to the school wanting to donate some softball gear. Turns out that gear was destined for other things, so a cheque of $1000 was given to the school instead. This went towards new sports uniforms. The school added the Mainfreight logo to the new uniform and students wrote thank you letters that were personally delivered to Bruce and the team.

The school would regularly invite Bruce, Carol and Kevin Drinkwater (CIO) to functions that they held. Bruce soon found himself asking what more can we do for the school. Without a blink of an eye, they said ‘a computer’! There were 25 classrooms and Mainfreight initially planned to install computers in three rooms per year. However, by the end of 1995, Mainfreight had supplied each classroom its very own computer. Every teacher at the time was given training to ensure they were able to teach the children what they needed to know. To mark the 20th anniversary of our partnership Mainfreight announced it would offer scholarships for former students to help with their expenses for high school and tertiary education.

Two of the key foundations to the success of this enduring partnership have been the way the school expresses their gratitude and their desire to put to match our contributions. When we ask them how we can help, they always gave us a plan that showed how they would contribute – as they did by taking responsibility for computer training. They always have skin in the game, which means we provide a hand up rather than a handout.

Their thanks to us are always heart-warming moments whether it be from expressions through their artwork or their cultural performances to our team. In 1997, the school was renamed Bairds Mainfreight Primary. The staff, board of trustees and the wider school community felt this was a fitting gesture after all the support that we had given them.

To this day we continue to support the school in every way we can, whether it’s upgrading of computer equipment or special school trips to Waiheke Island. We believe that education is a great equaliser. It doesn’t matter where you come from, we believe that everyone should be given equal opportunities.