Tearfund invites you to a charity event raising funds for our mission to break the cycle of poverty and empower farmers in South East Asia and the Pacific through micro-enterprise.

Cheese, spirits and wine, salads and dessert included | Dress: Smart/Formal

Juliet Harbutt, world renowned Master of Cheese, is host to Tearfund’s Artisan Cheese fundraiser, an exclusive night of discovery and celebration of artisan craft across the Asia Pacific region. You will enjoy a selection of New Zealand’s finest artisan cheeses, expertly paired with local wines and spirits, along with salads and desserts.

This fundraiser will profile Tearfund’s Sri Lanka Dairy Project, where you will hear how empowerment is inspiring enterprise, as milk is processed into artisanal dairy products, lifting communities out of poverty and giving hope amongst challenge.

During the evening you will be invited to join in committed partnership with Tearfund and MFAT NZ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade) for our five year SAFE programme to see communities in Sri Lanka, Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands be safe from exploitation, aware of trafficking risks and how to mitigate them, free from economic hardship and empowered to drive change for generations to come.

At Tearfund, we believe in partnership, because more can be accomplished when we act together. We have a collective ambition to engage compassionate Kiwis with development needs and initiatives across Asia Pacific, and your gifts to support this programme will be matched two-fold by the government. That means every $1 you commit unlocks $2 of MFAT funding, enabling $3 of development work to be delivered in the field.

We warmly invite you to join us for this special event, which is not to be missed! Spaces are very limited at the Distillery so we encourage you to book your tickets before they sell out.

*Note - if you're booking multiple tickets and do not have all attendee names, you can leave this section blank and supply the details later.

Check out our previous Artisan Cheese events!

You can look forward to hearing from:

Our host, Juliet Harbutt, is a world renowned Master of Cheese and award winning author for her World Cheese Book. She has been Chief judge at the British Cheese Awards, and judged many prestigious European and US Cheese Awards. Juliet worked with the EU to promote charcuterie, and has consulted to Harrods, Marks & Spencers and the now King Charles. Juliet is a master presenter and is sure to bring much wit and humour to this event as she shares years of internationally honed expertise and storytelling alongside her advocacy for Tearfund’s work in Sri Lanka.

Sixth-generation Waikato dairy farmer, Ross Wallis, has been working the farm for the last 20 years. Prior to this, Ross and his wife Shayney were full time volunteers for Youth With a Mission in various parts of the world, leading teams and training schools. Ross has a deep passion for farmers in developing countries and is a committed advocate of Tearfund’s Sri Lanka Dairy project, to which he brings his experience within the NZ dairy industry. Currently Ross is on the Fonterra Shareholders Council representing Waikato west farmers.

Tearfund CEO, Ian McInnes’ introduction to aid and development came when he happened to be in Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004 and helped with the aid response alongside his wife Himali. Now, Ian is one of New Zealand’s leading disaster response managers having worked at the forefront of international humanitarian response in countries including Myanmar, Haiti, Pakistan and Samoa. Ian was formally Chair of the Council for International Development and the NGO Disaster Relief Forum.

Sri Lankan born Himali McInnes is a family doctor who works in a busy Auckland practice and in the prison system. Himali worked for the World Health Organisation in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, visiting camps of Tamil civilians made homeless from the civil war, where she witnessed the abuse, destitution, and the lack of hope for vulnerable refugee men, women and children. Himali is an acclaimed writer, beekeeper, constant gardener and maker of messes.

Thank you to our wonderful venue host, Cardrona Whiskey Distillery for sponsoring our event. Their support enables us to keep our costs low and ensure your donations go to the field.

COVID POLICY

We are obligated to work within the policy that is set by the venue. If there are any changes to this, we will advise you as soon as possible.

For event enquiries, contact us at luisa@tearfund.org.nz