A positive way to serve
Published on 16 November, 2025
Why I have joined the Board of Momentum Waikato - Te Puāwaitanga o Waikato
By Susan Hassall, Momentum Waikato trustee.
I have lived in the Waikato for most of my adult life and I am proud to call this part of the world my home.
For many years I led a secondary school, where I witnessed literally thousands of young men develop and grow and become ready to contribute to our communities and our society as fine Waikato adults.
In those years sharing their journeys, from child to young man, I have learned some valuable truths.
One of these verities which we all need to understand and accept, as a community determined to grow and be strong, is the need and the responsibility to serve.
A willingness to serve makes the ultimate difference to our lives, as individuals and as a community. It brings happiness to those who give; it brings happiness to those who receive.
Most importantly, it strengthens the world we share and makes that world better for us all.
While at my school, I had many ‘sayings’ which the boys and their families heard often. One of them is “You can pretend to care, but you can’t pretend to show up!”
This is so true of service.
In life we have to make a decision at some stage - either to engage and embrace our time on this planet, or to simply drift through our years of existence.
For me, what brings happiness, satisfaction and joy is engagement, or in other words ‘showing up’ because we really do care!
Why have I joined the Momentum Waikato board when I was offered the privilege?
For me, it is a way in which I can serve, as a volunteer, to support an amazing organisation which exists to help others by providing them with the chance to give.
“Amazing” because it provides the opportunity for all to give, each in our own different way, and to make a real contribution in a safe manner to improving the lives of others.
Momentum Waikato provides a structure that enables every individual to give. It allows us all to gain happiness, through gifting, through giving, and in doing so, it creates a way to gift happiness to others, by providing them with the opportunity to receive.
In other words, to really care.
