An online fundraiser has been launched for a talented Kiwi teen surfer who died after being struck by a vehicle in Australia.<\/p>\n
Taika Cleland-Pottie, 17, was hit by a car on Cunningham Highway at Clumber, 86km southwest of Brisbane, around 6.20pm on Friday, August 28. <\/p>\n
In a GoFundMe page, his aunt Isla Amin said the wh\u0101nau had “lost our beautiful Taika under tragic circumstances”. <\/p>\n
“Obviously our pain is immeasurable but we are doing our best to support each other through this unbearable time. Some of our wider wh\u0101nau have expressed a wish to contribute towards giving Taika the send-off he deserves,” Amin said.<\/p>\n
“Our deepest gratitude for any donations towards making this happen. Aroha nui.”<\/p>\n
The page had raised AU$36,402 (NZ$44,490) of its AU$40,000 (NZ$48,887) goal as of 7pm this evening. <\/p>\n
Taika was remembered by the Kirra Surfriders Club as a “dedicated young member of our club, a fast improving surfer and someone who was always willing to make himself available and contribute”. <\/p>\n
“Above all, he was an incredibly respectful and kind young person who was a pleasure to have around the club.<\/p>\n
“Our thoughts are with Taika\u2019s family, friends and everyone who knew him during this incredibly difficult time.<\/p>\n
“Rest easy, Taika. You will be deeply missed by everyone at Kirra.”<\/p>\n
A paddle out to celebrate Taika’s life would be held at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An online fundraiser has been launched for a talented Kiwi teen surfer who died after being struck by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-589879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}