What would you do? I know of one family who have 3 teenage kids selected for a NZ sports team to play at a U19 World Champs. They play in an unfunded sport. They need $6000 each to make the trip. The family do not have the sort of money or income to pay for it. They live in a cheap rental through their work, and do own a small unit on which they have a mortgage of about $180,000. The only way they can fund the trip is to increase the mortgage. They are applying for funding at every possible community funding agency that they can think of. The kids haven't really got time to work for the money because they also play another sport at provincial level and are high academic achievers. The other problem is that the team management require the money progressively to pay for the ongoing costs as they come in such as gear and travel. So while they may fund it through community funding, they have to front up progressively (e.g. $4500 by Feb 24). This means the mortgage is the only option; a...
The blog of Mark Keown, New Testament lecturer at Laidlaw College, Auckland, New Zealand. It involves comments on theology, life, sport and whatever comes into Mark's random mind.