Levin Altrusa Club supports HLC Driver Licensing initiative
Patrick Rennell (CEO HLC) recently spoke to the Levin Probus Club at Jack Allen House in the Levin RSA building on the new developments at HLC and Life to the Max (LTTM)
Although there to speak on the work of the Trusts he was struck by the number of individuals who are working to improve the lives of people in our community.
An example of this is the student driver licence scheme that HLC and the three Horowhenua Colleges developed in 2019. This scheme provides free driver training lessons to students at HLC and Horowhenua, Waiopehu and Manawatu Colleges. During its operation the scheme has helped in excess of 150 students achieve the minimum of a restricted drivers licence. Our aim is for 225 students to undertake lessons and attain a driver’s licences per annum. Supported by HMC Levin and NZ Police the scheme provides a purpose built driver training vehicle and HLC’s full time driving instructor to give students the opportunity to learn best driving practice as part of their training.
Despite the instruction and time in a vehicle being free to the student the cost of the NZTA licence fees remain a barrier to many families. The cost of fees for a learners and restricted driver licence is $228.70. This cost increases if resits are required. When I outlined this at my Probus Club address a member of Levin Altrusa approached me with a very generous donation of $1,000 to support these students. We will use these funds to support driving candidates to meet licence costs when they are unable to do so.
I’m pleased to publicly thank Levin Altrusa for their support. It is a wonderful example of the generosity of individual members of the Horowhenua and how, when we work collectively we can make significant changes in our community.
If you would like information our community focussed initiatives, please contact us on 0800 368 1095 or come and have a coffee with us at 102 Liverpool Street; our staff would love to show you around the new campus.
Lynette Haywood and Patrick Rennell