Bay of Plenty people are being asked to face their fear by jumping out of a plane from 12,000ft in the annual Drop For Youth campaign.

The activity – which involves individuals ticking off a bucket-list activity while raising funds for local teenagers – is one of the biggest annual fundraisers for the Graeme Dingle Foundation.

Those who've already signed up range from business owners and corporates, sports people to a mother-and-daughter team.

'Many are jumping out of a plane for the first time,” says Charlotte Brown, who is Graeme Dingle Foundation's business development manager.

'I did it last year, so I absolutely understand it's daunting to freefall for 45 seconds but it's really beautiful flying over the Bay of Plenty with Skydive Tauranga. It's actually a great experience annual fundraisers for the Graeme Dingle Foundation.

People can sign up to the campaign now, with the skydiving taking place in September and October and donations with donations being collected until December 31.

Charlotte is hoping for at least 80 participants. 'The reason we chose skydiving is significant,” says Charlotte. 'Our courses in schools teach resilience and that what you have inside is greater than any obstacle you may face.

That's a big message – so skydiving brings that to life. It reminds adults what it's like to feel nervous, to face a challenge and to then overcome it.”

Donations have already topped $10,000 but the foundation is hoping more people sign up to make it the most successful campaign ever.

'Last year, we raised more than $30,000 for our youth programmes,” says Charlotte. 'But more than 90 per cent of the money we need annually for our programmes is from fundraising, so we really need community support to reach as many young people as possible.”

The foundation's programmes range from school-based values teaching of Kiwi Can, to peer mentoring

programme Stars and ready to work programme Career Navigator as well as Project K, which challenges teens to a three-week wilderness adventure to boost confidence in their own abilities.

'Every week, we reach 3800 young people in 16 school communities in the Western BOP region,” says

Charlotte. 'That's more than 170,000 attendance hours a year through our long-term mentoring programmes.

Charlotte says NZ's young people face many challenges in this ever-changing world 'and we want to help prepare them and also empower them to make the most of their futures”.

'We're off to a great start with the Drop For Youth Campaign this year, but we need more people on-board.”

To sign up or support the campaign, visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/event/drop-for-youth-2022-wbop