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- Painga Project is a charity that helps kids of low-decile schools with things like reading glasses, hearing aids, school lunches and supplies. HELENA O’NEILL talks with Sarah Corson about how they support Kiwi kids
When and why did the Painga Project come into being?
Painga Project was created in 2019 tosupport low-decile south Auckland schools with equity at the school gate.
The simple belief that all children should have the same opportunities regardless of the school they go to. Our work began by finding out what Papakura school principals needed and then creating connections and support to make it happen.
For example, we began by purchasing two 10-seater vans to provide transport for Papakura schools as it’s hard to see what you can be and explore the world if you can’t get beyond the school gate.
Togs and towels for swimming lessons were a simple help to ensure all children could participate in swimming lessons rather than sitting on the side of the pool watching.
We also began making lunches for a couple of schools as children were coming to school hungry.
We have now developed a comprehensive in school hearing and vision screening system with complete follow up and support. Providing an audiology pathway for grommets, ear infections and hearing aids and fully funded glasses for vision.
How long have you been with the Painga Project, and what do you do?
I co-founded Painga Project back in 2019, and I lead a small team of amazing innovators as we look to create vision and hearing systems that work for our children.
Can you tell me about Celia?
Celia gets ger name from social justice advocate Celia Lashlie, and she is a mobile optometry clinic designed to be able to dispense over 6000 sets of prescription glasses per school year.
With the volume of screening, we are able to do what we knew that we had to; create, build and deliver a mobile clinic that was designed to operate efficiently and effectively within a school day.
What campaign have you launched with her?
Celia provides our full optometry solution after we have completed vision screening. When we first visit a school, we screen the entire school and then after that we continue to come back to pick up new entrants and then we screen again in year 6.
Children then have a full optometry appointment on Celia and select the type of frame that suits them, and then the frame is matched to their prescription and delivered back to NZ by One Sight. We then fit the glasses and provide any ongoing follow up.
How many schools are involved with the Painga Project, and how far south?
We currently work with 53 of the 98 highest equity index primary and intermediate schools in Auckland, and we extend out to Port Waikato, Mercer, Kaiaua, Tuakau and Waiuku.
We have also just completed a preschool pilot with 16 Whanau Manaaki Kindergartens in Levin and Porirua so that we can better understand preschool vision and Celia has just spent three weeks in Wellington providing full eye exams to these kindergartens.
We also took the opportunity to spend a day at the Wellington City Mission and with WellFed in Porirua screening and providing optometry appointments for adults.
How many children have you screened since launching?
We have screened over 25,000 children, and in 2025 we screened over 9000 students as our project expanded.
How is the Painga Project funded?
Our glasses frames and lenses are funded by OneSight, Celia was funded by the Ted Manson Foundation and the equipment on her was funded by the Buchanan Foundation.
We continue to look for funding to allow us to fully resource Celia so that she can operate more days of the week.
How can the community support the Painga Project?
We would love to get the community to support Celia so that she can be on the road in schools more often.
A $20 donation via our Givealittle page pays for a child to have their vision screened, and $80 funds a full optometry appointment on Celia along with a set of prescription glasses. All of this is within the school day.
Then there are larger needs, such as funding our optometrists. We would love to talk with anyone who is interested in helping us cover these ongoing operational costs.
www.paingaproject.co.nz
givealittle.co.nz/org/the-painga-project
