Neighbourly Good Sort: Mark Dunajtschik
Todays Good Sort is someone who can claim to have changed the face of Wellington.
Wellington property developer Mark Dunajtschik was this week honoured as the Property Council New Zealand Members’ Laureate, a lifetime membership awarded once a year.
Mark was called “a shining example of ‘property for good’, consistently breaking the often-negative connotations that come with the role of property developer”.
A humble man, Mark came to New Zealand as a toolmaker in 1958 to make a new life after an extraordinary story that saw him imprisoned in a Yugoslav concentration camp before eventually escaping with his mother to Germany.
He trained as a toolmaker, before spending five years travelling the world and deciding to make New Zealand his home.
After a few months on Kiwi soil, Mark established Precision Grinders, running the business successfully for 25 years.
After retiring in 1987, he dabbled in property investment and development as a hobby, quickly accumulating and adding value to commercial and residential property around central Wellington, developing his unique, hands-on formula for success.
He has added value
His legacy includes properties such as Environment House, the James Smith Building, the Harcourts Building, HSBC Tower, the Asteron Centre, and more recently the new $50 million-dollar Children’s Hospital for Capital and Coast District Health Board, which he has developed and gifted to the city.
Mark has also been benefactor for many charitable organisations including a helicopter service which eventually morphed into the present Life Flight Trust, disability provider Hohepa, the Wellington Free Ambulance and as one of the first private donors to the Michael Fowler Centre.
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⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️