GREAT RECEPTION: Limehills School pupils welcome their American penfriend Natalie Shaheen, who raised $3400 for the Kakapo Recovery Programme from her bat mitzvah gifts, at Invercargill Airport yesterday.Donating her bat mitzvah presents to the Kakapo Recovery Programme has resulted in a special trip for Los Angeles girl Natalie Shaheen.
She arrived in Invercargill yesterday to be greeted by a group of penfriends from Limehills School and Kakapo Recovery workers.
Natalie, 13, decided to donate her Jewish coming-of-age presents to the kakapo after falling in love with them aged eight, when she saw a TV documentary about the critically endangered birds.
She asked for donations instead of gifts and sent $3400 to the programme.
Now Natalie, who had never been to New Zealand before, will get the chance to meet the remarkable creatures when she is flown to Codfish Island tomorrow.
Amazed by the reception she got at the city airport, she said she felt blessed.
"It's very special. I've never experienced it before, I didn't know if it was going to happen or not ... I'm really overwhelmed."
Her mother, Nicole Yorkin, said it was wonderful to see the Limehills pupils turn out at the airport to welcome Natalie.
"I actually got to witness when she first saw (kakapo) on The World of Birds," Ms Yorkin, a TV writer and producer, said. "She heard them booming and always loved them since."
Natalie said she did not know much about Southland or Invercargill but would get the opportunity to learn more, with a tour of the city with Mayor Tim Shadbolt and a visit to the Murihiku Marae planned for today.
She was looking forward to meeting some of the kakapo, although the world-famous Sirocco is on Maud Island in the Marlborough Sounds rather than Codfish.
"He's the one I know most about," she said.
Kakapo Recovery Programme manager Deirdre Vercoe said the team had been overwhelmed by Natalie's gift.
"That a 13-year-old on the other side of the world, instead of thinking about herself, made that kind of donation was pretty gobsmacking," she said.
It was a rare privilege to visit the island, but Natalie deserved it, she said.
The money was put into a trust fund along with other donations ready for the breeding season.