It’s been a hell of year, New Zealand. It’s not hard to see why the internet is full of ‘2020. Worst. Year. Ever’ memes.

But in amongst the pandemic, disasters, social upheaval and political turmoil, there have been little pockets of positivity worth celebrating, in the past 12 months.

Today is World News Day, and one of themes is how journalism can be a force for good.

Our mission at Stuff is to make help Aotearoa a better place. As part of World News Day, we’re sharing 10 stories from the past year that fulfilled that mission, and brought positive change to our communities.

READ MORE:
* World News Day: Why Stuff measures success by trust not clicks
* ‘It not my shame’: The process of speaking out as a victim of sexual harassment
* Stuff Editorial Code of Practice and Ethics

‘This guy’s got to see his boy’

Pukekohe father Robert van der Heyden was beginning to wonder if he would ever see his dying son again when he received a lifeline from Dunedin travel agent Rosann Connelly-George, 50, who had read the Stuff story online.

Stuff had been covering van der Heyden’s frustrated attempts to get to Australia see his son Chris, 37, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in June, when Connelly-George stepped in.

In the end, it cost $7200 for the journey, but Connelly-George didn’t charge him a cent.

“No way was this about the money… it was just, ‘This guy’s got to see his boy.’ I’m a mother I know how that feels,” said Connelly-George.

Your support saved lives

After Lorna Thornber covered a couple in Fiji who used their savings and Covid-19-closed tourism business to deliver food and aid to struggling villagers, the response from Stuff readers to their fundraising initiative was “overwhelming”, Tourism Fiji’s Regional New Zealand Office wrote in an email.

“Stuff’s travel coverage over Covid-19 [has] literally saved Fijians from going hungry over this challenging time.

“The owners of Ecotrax…called us crying, saying that in under 24 hours of the article running, they had doubled their goal of fundraising.

“The resulting money allowed for an entire village to have enough food to last them for the next two months. Plus, enough extra to keep their staff employed.”

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed.

Documentary forces PM to act

Less than 24 hours after Stuff Circuit’s Life + Limb documentary revealed 17 deaths and injuries connected to New Zealand firing ranges in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered the Defence Force to urgently clean up our unexploded ordnance.

When the Stuff Circuit team sat down to interview those affected, they told us they hadn’t heard from any New Zealand authorities since the incident – in fact, anyone at all from New Zealand.

“You are the first”, one of them told us, five years on from the deaths of her children.

But the mothers didn’t really care whose unexploded ammunition was responsible for killing their children.

They just wanted the firing ranges cleaned up so nobody else would be killed.

In an interview with Stuff Circuit, the PM had a message to the families: “We have a responsibility to clear our sites and we will – it’s taken too long in my view.”

Agonising battle with ACC

Young Masterton welder Aiden Sayer was almost killed in a workplace accident earlier this year when a steel trailer deck he was working on tipped over and hit him in the head. The 21-year-old lost half an ear, was seeing double and was in constant pain from a 3cm bladder stone caused by the catheter that he had for a month while being treated for his injuries.

After battling ACC for several months over getting a procedure to remove the stone, Sayer and his mum, Vania Ireland, shared their story with Stuff reporter Piers Fuller out of desperation to get the painful problem solved.

Within a few days, ACC overturned its decision and a week later, Sayer got his procedure.

Life-changing surgery

When Angela Wilson, 49, read a Stuff article about the flawed “Impact on life” questionnaire, which gauges if a person meets the criteria for publicly funded cataract surgery, it resonated with her own struggles, and she was moved to take action.

Despite cataracts affecting her quality of life, she had been denied treatment through Nelson Marlborough Health after filling out the questionnaire. She said she was unable to drive, and she had broken bones in her feet due to not seeing objects in her path.

During her pursuit to launch a petition for better treatment of cataracts sufferers, Wilson’s research led her to a North Island doctor – who granted her free flights and surgery in Hamilton.

Surgery was due to be carried out on her worst affected eye at the end of August.

‘Justice being served’

A year after a Stuff investigation unearthed new details about the infamous cold case of Angela Blackmore and sparked a record $100,000 reward for information, a third person was charged with the pregnant mother’s murder.

Blackmoore, 21, was bludgeoned and stabbed 39 times in the kitchen-dining area of her home in Christchurch on August 17, 1995.

Two people were arrested in 2019, several months after Blair Ensor’s report into the crime was first published. The latest arrest was a 47-year-old man who police believe arranged the brutal killing.

Blackmoore’s partner, Laurie Anderson, never gave up hope those responsible would be caught.

“It’s another person being held accountable for the tragic loss of Angela. Justice is being served.”

Long-lost family friends found

More than 30 years after a fondly remembered family holiday, an article in The Dominion Post helped reconnect friends from across the globe.

In 1980, a recently emigrated British couple living in New Zealand placed an ad in the Great Yarmouth Mercury in hopes of reconnecting with estranged family still living in Britain.

Ron Carter, reading the paper one morning, realised it was him they were looking for. The man who placed the ad was Ron’s cousin, and he and his wife, and their daughter Bronwyn and her husband Greg, all travelled to England to visit that same year.

Forty years later, Carter’s daughter Marie Young did the same in hopes of reconnecting with Bronwyn and Greg, whose contact details were lost when her parents died in 2009.

Bronwyn James’ godmother in Wellington saw the new article, and the next generation has since reconnected.

A rugby mystery solved

One of New Zealand’s oldest sport mysteries was solved after a nearly century-old trophy was found deep in the bowels of Eden Park.

The Loving Cup was traditionally awarded to the winner of the annual North v South game, but had been lost since 1932.

Following publication of a Stuff article about amateur historian Ian St George’s search for the cup, Eden Park facilities assistant Michael Brown found the trophy in storage.

“It was always there but I didn’t click how important it was until I saw the article,” Brown said.

Holding corporates to account

Only a few hours after Debrin Foxcroft published a story revealing that the Warehouse, which had declared itself as carbon neutral, was selling bags of coal, the company announced it would pull the product from shelves and the online store.

Warm homes, finally

Christchurch City Council in late 2019 voted to upgrade its social housing after a series of stories raising the issues of cold, damp homes, in The Press.

Stuff had revealed 930 council-owned units remained uninsulated after being made exempt from minimum standards for rental properties that came into force in 2016.

Tenants spoke out about enduring cold, damp, mouldy homes after complaints to property managers appeared to make no difference. The Tenants Protection Association (TPA) has called the state of some of the homes “deplorable”.

In August, council staff said the bill to fix the cold, damp units would set the city council back $5 million to $6m.

In September, the council voted to fast-track upgrades to “deplorable” social housing units by seeking a $10m loan towards the $16m cost to heat, ventilate and insulate 909 homes.

We’re proud at Stuff of the positive change our journalism can bring to our communities, and constantly floored by the generosity and mettle of Kiwis in tough times. Thanks for helping us tell the stories of Aotearoa.