Jason Paris: From Regent St to space (sort of)
“I was in South Invercargill and there was an ingredient there for me to be a disadvantaged youth, and it didn’t turn out that way because of three key factors."
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On Thursday night those behind the Grace St Project in Invercargill launched a $2.5m fundraising drive.
It’s the quest to get another bold South Invercargill community development completed.
We will get to just what the project is about a bit later in this piece. First though, let’s highlight a special South Invercargill story.
Included in those that spoke at the Grace St Project function was Jason Paris.
Paris is One NZ’s chief executive. The company formerly known as Vodafone.
He’s carved an impressive corporate career. He’s also worked for the likes of Spark, TVNZ, Nokia, and Mediaworks in various roles.
Having Paris speak at that Grace St Project fundraising launch was fitting.
Paris is a proud South Invercargill lad now based in Auckland. He regularly returns to his home city to visit.
“I’m a Southland boy, I’m an Invercargill boy, I’m a South Invercargill boy, I’m a South City boy. So, projects like this are very close to my heart,” Paris told those at the fundraising launch.
During Paris’ most recent visit to Invercargill, he made a stop at the old Cargill High School site which he once attended.
Prior to that, he attended Elston Lea Kindergarten, St George Primary School, and Tweedsmuir Intermediate.
The Cargill High School site is now home to Te Wharekura o Arowhenua, a Kura Kaupapa Māori school.
During his visit, he surprised the school’s Year 12 and 13 with the news that they will be getting a trip to visit the One New Zealand head offices, as well as a Warriors NRL game, in Auckland in August.
He says it was a special moment.
On Friday morning Paris also attended an Academy Southland function where he got to listen to another South Invercargill success story, Alena Saili, speak.
Saili is now a contracted Black Ferns sevens player and the first female Southland athlete to win an Olympic Gold medal.
Paris provides an impressive example of what can be achieved from South Invercargill when there’s a sense of belonging mixed in with some support and belief.
His mother Annette was 16 when she was pregnant with Jason. His then 18-year-old dad left and never came back.
It’s a recipe that some would suggest would have put Paris on the back foot in life. Although he says that was far from the case.
“This is a young teenage girl on the DPB with a child trying to bring it into the world as best she can.
“I was in South Invercargill and there was an ingredient there for me to be a disadvantaged youth, and it didn’t turn out that way because of three key factors.
“An amazing mother and grandparents, a safe environment to call home where I could go back to and feel safe and warm, and I was always told I could do anything if I put the work into it.
“There were a lot of people around me that said they believed in me.”
At One NZ Paris has been exposed to communities that are struggling day to day to make ends meet.
He says that’s where his mum would have been when she had him as a 17-year-old. Although Paris cannot once remember thinking there were challenges in their household while he was growing up at Regent St in Invercargill.
Paris has created plenty of headlines in recent weeks for his criticism of NRL referees in relation to the Warriors, a team which One NZ is the major sponsor.
However, it’s Paris’ recent work helping get a deal done with Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellite business that’s probably deserving of the most focus.
One NZ’s mobile service has been delivered through cell phone towers, but the Starlink agreement will mean customers will be able to use their smartphones to connect via satellite when they are in areas that don’t have cellular coverage.
“This is a game-changing technology. And I have to say it’s very, very bizarre that in August I’m going to meet Elon Musk and watch these rockets go into space.
“I’m a little Southland boy from Regent St.”
Cyclone Gabrielle ramped up Paris and One NZ’s quest to get the technology sorted in New Zealand.
“People couldn’t talk to loved ones to tell them they were safe. The banking industry didn’t work, and that was a problem.
“When that happened, we did the Space X deal in a matter of weeks. How do we ensure when these events happen again that New Zealanders can be safe and businesses can move on?
“It’s a mind-blowing technology, it is just incredible…. We are testing it now on the ground.”
“Some of you might have seen a mobile tower around Invercargill, and how I would explain it is we are strapping one of those to a satellite, putting 40 of those onto a rocket, sending them 700km up into space…. then beaming a mobile signal back to your smartphone in your pocket.”
Back to the Grace St Project, a project that Paris believes in.
“When I talk to anyone that we work with in the community about how can we make a massive difference for our rangitahi in this country, they say a safe environment and just one person in their life that believes in them, that can be the difference.
“I think that is what Grace St is about.”
The Invercargill Community Connections Charitable Trust (IC2) officially launched The Grace Street Project last year after securing ownership of the former Grace St church building.
The project will include renovating, rebuilding, and modernising the existing building to create a multi-purpose facility.
“It’s a new beat in the heart of our South Invercargill community, in the form of a hub of 652sqm,” IC2 chair Janette Malcolm said.
The Pantry and South Alive have been successfully operating on their current site since 2017 and South Invercargill.
The Grace Street Project aims to complement The Pantry and South Alive.
The project has been costed at over $4m, of which 44% has already been raised.
Capital funding committed to date included $320k from the ILT, $250k from the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), $200k from Aotearoa Gaming Trust, $100k from Invercargill City Council, and $75,000 from Community Trust South.
Government and private trusts will also contribute a further $540k, alongside a list of community sponsors and agencies which were eager to get behind the initiative.
The quest now is to raise the $2.5m needed to complete the project.
Excellent piece, good luck with progress, from another original South of Tay lad.