Message from Greg Easton - Chairperson 

By Greg Easton | Posted: Tuesday June 6, 2017

Another financial year has ended with another close to break even result for the Foundation. 

We have been very much in a holding pattern over the last couple of years as we attempt to simplify the relationship between the Old Boys’ Society and the Foundation. We realise there is a great level of confusion surrounding the two entities and that confusion has in part contributed to a lack of generous donations to the Foundation. We want to have an organisation that instils a desire to promote the welfare of the school’s future, the very definition of philanthropy.

The Old Boys’ Society ran an excellent golf tournament this year raising $23.5k for the forthcoming Hostel redevelopment project. The Foundation sat in the background providing the necessary up front finance and transactional facilities. It is in the background that we envisage the Foundation to sit, with the Old Boys’ Society being the voice. The Hostel redevelopment is huge and the Foundation will be involved in helping to collect the much needed donations. Generations of boys from all over Otago (and further afield) have been able to attend OBHS due to it having a hostel. This is not a ministry funded facility; so it must be seen as a privilege, not a right to have. As a former ‘day boy’, I can honestly say that the ‘hostel boys’, or ‘Rectorians’ as I recently learnt, brought a new perspective to my schooling as well as sporting and cultural pursuits. The connection to Dunedin’s hinterland was opened and I know from personal experience that I have seen much more of it because of relationships formed with hostel boys all those years ago.

When the time comes, I will be digging deep to help out this project. It stands out as one that will truly make OBHS stand out from its peers.

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