The Waikato Story shares the incredible stories of the Waikato, highlighting, new business, innovation, educators, siginficant economic contributors and community organisations within the Waikato Region. Each story reveals more of our incredible region.
Recently, The Waikato Story feature one of our own CELFie's, Teresa Bidlake - Hospice Waikato...
Hospice Waikato runs 8 charity shops.
With the business turning over $3.4m last year, strong leadership is crucial to ensure the operation runs smoothly.
That is the job of Hospice Waikato’s Regional Retail manager Teresa Bidlake. She heads a team of 14 paid staff and 400 volunteers who work across stores in Hamilton, Matamata, Morrinsville, Te Awamutu, Cambridge and Thames.
To hone her leadership skills, Teresa, 47, last year completed the Community Enterprise Leadership Foundation (CELF) Elevate Leadership programme with other Waikato leaders.
Run in partnership with Waikato University, this is the only regional programme of its kind in New Zealand and sees up to 22 aspiring leaders – from both business and the not-for-profit sector – do the 9-month course each year. The time commitment, in addition to a four-day residential, is a Friday and Saturday, once a month (total 17 days).