. Tonight ` they're dishing out love. This is something I live and breathe. But there's trouble brewing in the Love Soup kitchen. It's very confusing. This self-appointed queen is behind an uncharitable takeover. So, you own Love Soup Aotearoa? She owns us. I don't get it. And ` fighting for their rights. She's healthy. She loves Dora. The hidden cost of Down syndrome. They are charging a surcharge to cover Down syndrome, whatever that means. Plus ` a very occasional series makes a comeback! Welcome to Haydo's mailbag. Gosh, it's dark in here. Ah, that's better. The meat's getting heavier, the cappuccino's getting smaller, and the flour... Oh my goodness me. Is this the ultimate workout for chefs? I can't open it. How do you do it? Copyright Able 2017 Kia ora. Welcome to the show. We lead tonight with an uncharitable takeover. For years, Julie King and a small group of volunteers have been dishing up love and providing nourishment to Tokoroa's homeless and needy. You've probably heard of their good deeds. They operate under the name Love Soup, but there's trouble brewing in the love soup kitchen. Here's Matt. They make their own dressing. With all the high jinks,... Mmm, I could almost drink it. (LAUGHS) ...and hilarity,... No, not today. OK, not today. ...you could be excused for thinking... (LAUGHS) Don't mention the pole. they're up to no good in this Tokoroa kitchen. This is a lot of fun for you, isn't it? It's a lot of fun. (LAUGHS) But, no, nothing dodgy happening here. The opposite, actually. While many just talk about it,... Find your little cubby hoe over here. Cubby hoe? Cubby hole. ...the bubbly Julie King and her crew are sleeves rolled up, doing it. This is something I live and breath. Feeding the need. I dreamed that one day I was going to win Lotto and help the homeless and feed hungry people, but it all came together but through community. You didn't win Lotto, but you're still helping? Yeah, it's amazing. (LAUGHS) It's a miracle. A lot of miracles have happened. Through her superbly named organisation, Love Soup, Julie and her volunteers have been filling empty stomachs in our schools and on our streets for four years. If it weren't for Love Soup, we would be starving. Looks like to me you've got some for later on too? Of course, you've got to take something for later on. (LAUGHS) Because of Julie's hard work, passion and energy, her feed the need initiative quickly spread from Tokoroa to Rotorua, Whangarei and Whangaparoa. Is it hard yakka? Definitely hard. There's the down times, but it's worth it when you help people. Do you personally make any money from this? No, not a cent. So why do you do it? Cos I want to share hope. I know what it's like to lose hope. With that goal, some things needed to change. And In May, Love Soup became the Love Soup Aotearoa Charitable Trust. Had you ever thought of trademarking Love Soup? No, no, we don't see the point. But someone else did. Self-titled Maori sovereign queen Meea, or Mia, Nathan-Joyce. Kia ora, Mia. Matt Chisholm calling from Television New Zealand's Fair Go programme. How you doing? Meea has applied for trademark and, some would say, effectively hijacked the Love Soup name and logo. So you own Love Soup Aotearoa? Is that Love Soup Aotearoa? Mia Nathan-Joyce isn't a complete stranger to the Love Soup volunteers. In the four years that we've existed, she's given us a total of $150. But she's never been to a meeting, never made a sandwich. And only recently started asking Julie questions online about whether Love Soup was trademarked. I told her that we've not trademarked Love Soup and we don't plan to. Unhappy with the way things worked in Rotorua and without their backing, Nathan-Joyce paid $150 and applied to have Love Soup trademarked through the Intellectual Property of New Zealand, or IPONZ office, and that trademark is currently under examination. It looks like Mia Joyce is trying to take over your organisation? Yeah, it does. After everything you've done, could this affect the good work you're doing in the community? I think so, because we don't know what's going on, who's using our name, what they're asking for, what they've received. We don't know anything. Do you think she's trying to work with you or against you? It appears that she's working against us, because we're not listening to what she wants us to do. Getting a straight answer from Mia isn't easy. Why is Love Soup your entity? But her Facebook messages have left Julie and the volunteers in no doubt who's boss. She owns us. (CHUCKLES) I don't get it. I don't really get it either. It's very confusing. Here's another message from Mia Nathan-Joyce to Julie King. I just want to know what's going on in her head and what's her reasoning behind it. How do you feel about her using your name in this way? Well, if she abuses it, then we have to answer to it, so it's concerning, very concerning. Mia has definitely embraced the Love Soup name. Your email address is Love Soup? It just gets better, doesn't it? It seems this self-titled Maori queen intends to rule with an iron fist. But people are already organising it and running it, Mia. They're doing a collective movement already, without the trademark, Mia. Mia sees it as her role to police Love Soup and to make it better by turning it in to some kind of movement, something the people on the ground, the volunteers, who have been at it for years don't want it to be. What's your entity? But it's not between the government and you if you are using Love Soup's name. Why don't you go start up your own charitable trust and get that off the ground? Why don't you go and start your own organisation then and feed people? You can do that... operate and own your own entity. Which in this case just happens to be Love Soup, a charitable trust that doesn't want her involvement. If IPONZ accepts the trademark, it'll be advertised in their journal, giving third parties like Julie King three months to oppose it. They can't oppose the application until it's accepted. Someone plans to trademark us, shouldn't they ask us first? IPONZ also recommends the charity seek advice from a patent attorney or lawyer. Have you got the time or the money to fight this? No. We don't. We just want to do the work. Meanwhile, Mia Nathan-Joyce continues to use Love Soup's name without their blessing. This has been one of the most interesting phone calls I've ever had before in my life. As for Julie and her volunteers, whatever happens they'll carry on at the coalface. We'll never stop. We're needed. Hoping Mia Nathan-Joyce's application is unsuccessful, and if it is, they'll trademark Love Soup themselves. For sure. I might even give you the 150 bucks to do it! Thank you. (LAUGHS) Might need it. (LAUGHS) Oh, it just seems so unfair and ridiculous a trademark can just sit in limbo like that. It is crazy, but don't worry, New Zealand. I have the solution. So my neighbour Mark, he's a lawyer, specialises in that sort of stuff. And guess what he does during the day. He surfs while his wife goes to work, and he's got time. Mark, I'll be straight over. Put the jug on. Brilliant. Thanks, Mark. Right, Christmas is fast approaching, and so is the season of posting presents. Tonight's true-or-false challenge might make you think twice about what you pop in the mailbag for that special person. Art galleries, cafes, beautiful scenery ` Nelson has a lot to offer, but today we're offering Nelsonites the opportunity to try their hand at the Fair Go true/false challenge and walk away with $20, and today's question is a bit of a curly one. You're not allowed to send perfume in the post ` true or false? True. True. Maybe because of the alcohol content in it. Haven't a clue. You're 50-50. 50-50, yes. False. I guess the companies do it. I'd say false again, because I don't know. (LAUGHS) Probably true. I'd say false, cos I feel like you can. I'm going true. Got another divide here. (LAUGHS) OK. Test of the relationship. I have shipping, so it might be true. False. I'll go for true. Wouldn't have a clue. False. Have it sent to my sister. True. Well, it might be. It might also be false. We'll reveal the answer shortly. Oh, I know this. So there's certain things you can't send in the post ` like shanghais, bazookas, small children or big children. Actually, no children you can send in the post, so I say perfume ` no problem. Send away. Oh, you say send away? Yeah, totally. It's only perfume. Oh, OK. I don't even want to know how you know you can't send children in the post. Right, coming up after the break ` the unbelievable cost of Down syndrome. Is it fair for insurance companies to charge toddlers with Down syndrome more to travel? They are charging a surcharge to cover Down syndrome, whatever that means. And ` Gosh, it's dark in here. Ah, that's better. We shed some light on some troubling consumer issues. Well, every time I try and open a bag of flour, I can't open it. How do you do it? . Welcome back. New Zealanders have always prided themselves on being champions of human rights. Yeah, so with that in mind, imagine the thought of charging, say, women, Maori or the follickly challenged extra for travel insurance. Seems abhorrent, doesn't it? It does, and yet that is exactly what is happening to a small group of Kiwis with Down syndrome. Here's Anna. When you're only 2 years old, even the little things can be hard to master. Especially working out how to dress yourself. But sometimes it takes a bit more time to learn these tasks for children like Ayla, with Down syndrome. She is healthy. She loves Dora. She loves ice cream. She loves riding her bike. She's a 2�-year-old that has tantrums. You could potentially argue some of her development might be a little bit delayed, but she's meeting all her milestones. She's doing exactly what a typical kid would do. Ayla's mum, Carla, is determined her little girl won't be left behind in life and that Ayla will be able to do anything she wants to. So Carla's pretty frustrated to find she's already paying the extra price for Ayla, but not getting anything in return. When we go to get travel insurance, we have to declare that she has this condition, and what insurance companies are doing is they are charging a surcharge to cover Down syndrome. Whatever that means. Carla's chance discovery came when she went to buy travel insurance for her and Ayla last year. When I noted that Ayla had Down syndrome, it sent them into a bit of a flurry, and asked a whole bunch more medical questions, and then they said, 'Yes, this will be the premium, 'and then there'll be an additional premium on top of that.' Ayla has mosaic Down syndrome. It's a rare type. She doesn't have any associated conditions. No epilepsy, no heart condition ` nothing that impacts her health. So Carla thought declaring the Down syndrome shouldn't incur any cost. Boy, was she wrong. It's very confusing because Down syndrome isn't an illness, and it's not a disease. So everyone is questioning ` what is it that they're exactly covering? Here's a simple explainer. Down syndrome is when a child is born with an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. That means it 'over-expresses' itself. In other words, it does more than it should and can result in things like epilepsy or a heart condition. But not everyone with Down syndrome is affected the same way. People with Down syndrome can have very good health or can be born with conditions. They have a higher incidence of certain conditions such as being born with a hole in the heart. other children with Downs have quite good health and go on for decades of life. In fact, many people with Down syndrome are just like you or me. Ayla is being charged for having a chromosomal anomaly. That's like charging me for having blonde hair, but my friend here would be free. It's not our decision as to how individual insurers will price their risks, but ordinarily, if there is no other indication of any increased risk factor to that of any other child, then we would expect that treatment would be the same. So the Insurance Council says you should only be charged for an actual health condition, you know, like epilepsy, but that message doesn't seem to have been passed on to its members. We did a shop around online for Ayla's travel insurance. Some insurers won't cover Down syndrome at all. Others quoted us anything from $10, to $65, to a whopping $92. Ayla's mates would all be covered for no extra charge. And some providers would cover Ayla for free too. But if not, what exactly are you paying for? We wrote to all the companies we surveyed asking them what exactly that fees actually covered. But none of them could really say, except that it was a charge applied for the 'higher risk' associated with Down syndrome. There will be different positions taken by different insurers, and, as I said, that will depend upon their appetite for risk. But that's a competitive play that they make into the market. But they can't just apply a premium wherever they feel like it. The really important thing to remember, though, is that those different charges have to be based on actuarial evidence. The Disability Commissioner says companies can charge extra, but they need to back it up. People should absolutely feel they've got the right to ask insurance companies for that information. Who's that? The other option for parents is just to stay mum and don't declare. A lot of parents aren't disclosing that their child has got Down syndrome because they have no medical conditions. And they don't feel that they need to because their child is like any typical child. And the only thing about that is you run the risk the insurance company is going to turn around and say, 'You didn't disclose it'. The way Carla sees it, there's still time to change. The insurance companies, that is. Maybe a little bit of ignorance around the condition, and it's just annoying. It doesn't seem consistent; it doesn't seem fair. And most of all, we just don't understand what it's for. Because one day, Ayla's going to have to do this on her own. And her mum wants to make sure she's treated just the same as everyone else. She's just gonna function like anybody else. She's gonna contribute, and she's just gonna be. So, yeah, let's make her life easier ` and mine. Oh, how adorable is Ayla? You have got some fans on the Fair Go team. Pippa's keen to babysit any time. I have to say that a good example to shop around for your insurance. Yeah, and if you're a smart insurance company, why not give us a ring tomorrow and tell us you're dropping the surcharge? Good publicity, just saying. Right, coming up after the break ` can you post perfume? Companies do it. Posting the gift of love has got Nelson perplexed. Wouldn't have a clue. True. I say false, cos I feel like you can. I'm going true. And little problems become big bugbears. I noticed that the sachets for my cappuccino are now smaller than what they used to be. What's going on with Kiwi packaging? Oh my goodness me. How do you do it? . Welcome back. The internet has changed the way we communicate. Letters are becoming a thing of the past, but parcel post is going gangbusters. That's for sure, but making heads and tails of what you can and can't send is a bit of a minefield. For instance ` firearms, grenades, well, they're an obvious no-no! But stamps, coins and jewellery are a less obvious no-no! However, get this, correctly packaged bugs, including bees and leeches, are OK. Go figure! Which brings us to this week's true-or-false challenge. You're not allowed to send perfume in the post, that was the question. And this Nelsonite was bang on. Cos it's flammable, and I don't think you're allowed to send flammables in the post. Yep, it's true. As it's a flammable liquid, perfume is on NZ Post's prohibited item list. Along with a raft of other things including acid, Christmas crackers and gift vouchers. I thought something was up, cos I sent you some Chanel No. 8 last week, and it didn't show up. So that must have been why. I can't believe it. That would explain it, absolutely. Just to be clear, we're talking about sending perfume person to person. Companies get around this rule by complying with NZ Post's conditions of carriage. Right, it is time to celebrate the return of a very occasional but quite brilliant series called Haydo's Mailbag. Welcome to Haydo's Mailbag. Gosh, it's dark in here. Ahh, that's better. I thought I'd fixed that. (GROANS) Forgot my helmet. Dave from Christchurch wrote to us about Pak n Save's meat. I was just wondering how the meat increases in weight from when it's initially packed until it's reduced for quick sale. The meat was 634 grams when it was packed on April 25th. Five days later, when it's put on sale, the new sticker says the same pack is 34 grams heavier. Pak n Save have the answer. Dave found two packs like this. It's illegal to include packaging when weighing food. So keep an eye on the label under the label. Make sure the weights are the same. Jill Foster's problem is with her daily treat, Maccona coffee. Something's changed. I noticed that the sachets for my cappuccino are now smaller than what they used to be. This one had 70 cals. This one now has 66 cals. Is this the difference? And why the coffee is less? Maccona say earlier this year they changed their coffee due to customer demand for a creamier and frothier product. Maccona are sending Jill some more coffee. Raewyn's problem was flour. Edmonds flour. Oh my goodness me. Well, every time I try and open a bag of flour, I can't open it. How do you do it? And I end up getting a knife and hacking at it and having flour everywhere. I can't. I can't get it open. She gave hubby Richard a go. At this stage, I think I'd get a knife. Richard eventually succeeded with his fingers. Goodman fielder who make Edmonds say... That's Haydo's Mailbag. I'm out of here. See you next time. I'll see you next time too. (LAUGHS) Oh, nice work, Haydo. Fixing all those problems. Thank you. Oh, now, before we go, I have an apology to make. And as I tell my kids, if you make an error, you should always make it right as soon as possible. So last week, you may remember, I did a story on Lucy Richmond and her company Ma Belle contracting. Now, Lucy's company pleaded guilty to mistreating 24 calves and missed reparation payments to the woman who bought the starving animals. Now, Lucy says she had a good case, but couldn't afford to defend the charges. Now, last week, I said Lucy didn't send me any documents supporting her case. But after going back through the emails, I found three attachments. I didn't see them the first time because I thought they were fancy graphics you get with those email signatures that people send all the time. Now, this was my mistake, and I apologize. So anyway, here's what I received. Two letters with no names on them saying Lucy has treated animals correctly. The third is from a vet, who says he saw calves on her property and they had shelter, water and food. Now, I've spoken to the vet who wrote this letter. He says he can't confirm what condition the calves were in or even if they were the calves involved in the court case. We should also point out that there have been no further issues with Lucy Richmond's care of animals. All right, moving on, time for a quick reminder ` teachers, parents, start cracking the whip. There are just two weeks left to get those Kids' Ad Award entries polished to perfection. The maximum duration, of course, is 30 seconds, and the deadline is Friday the 29th of September. So please get cracking. That is the end of next week. Now, all entries have to be submitted online. So, go to our website TVNZ.co.nz and search Fair Go, or head to our Facebook page. So that's the show, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour or so to answer all your questions. Yes, our programme, of course, is all about your problems, your thoughts. We do love to hear from you. Now, you can get us on Facebook, you can email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz or you can write to us ` Private Bag 92038, Auckland. The post code is 1142. That's our show for tonight. Until next week,... BOTH: Po marie. 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