A Week with a Little Bit of Everything

Last week really had a little bit of everything, it was a busy week for us.

Monday- We had the pleasure of meeting with Bo Burns who is Councillor for Howick Ward. We asked if she would be willing to be our Ambassador for 2026- and she said yes!

We felt Bo was the perfect choice, being a local person who does so much for the community and sees the importance of giving young people a voice.

We are looking forward to working with Bo this year.

Tuesday- was all about networking. For the past two years we have been lucky to have been chosen for Z Good in the Hood campaign. This is where each Z petrol station chooses 4 local charities, the public can choose to support a charity by putting an orange token in the charities box. The tokens are counted and the charities are given a share of $1million (total for all stations in NZ)

Melanie Kennerley who owns many of the local Z petrol stations saw the impact of local charities all being in the same room and networking during her Celebration event at the end of the Z Good in the Hood campaign last year. So she invited us all to get together again to see what connections could happen. It was heartwarming to hear about all the work being done in our community by so many wonderful organisations.

Melanie with Ann

Wednesday-We had a wonderful day at Sunnyhills School working with Year 2 students. They took part in our free Kindness in the Community Activities, making Kindness Bugs. These bugs will be placed around the community for people to find, with a note attached asking them to complete an act of kindness and pass the bug on to keep the kindness growing in our community.

The students did an incredible job of colouring the little bugs- we hope they make people in the community smile

Thursday- Another fantastic day at Sunnyhills School, this time with the Year 6 students. They made origami hearts, decorated them and put a kindness message inside. These lovely hearts will be given out to local Community Heroes. The students discussed what a community hero was and gave us ideas of who to give the hearts to.

The Year 6 students took their time and showed how much they appreciated the work community heroes do in our area.

Friday- Office day- lots of emails to catch up on!

Saturday- Some of our Youth Board were keen to join the Moth Pod Competition which is run by Pest Free Howick Ward. The first event for this competition was on Saturday morning at Whimbrel Reserve.I met Molly and Evelyn there, we learnt about moth plants and were given PPE and sacks to help us collect this pest plant.

The girls did an amazing job, collecting 502 seedlings and 12 moth pods- great start to the competition.

While at the event I was able to give the wonderful members of Otara Waterways and Lakes Trust and Pest Free Howick Ward some of the Community Hero hearts made by students from Sunnyhills School. These groups do an incredible job of caring for our environment and really deserve the hearts.

From the moth pod event I went to Botany Library. I gave the staff there some Kindness Hearts and placed some Kindness Bugs all around the children's area of the library for people to find.

The staff loved the hearts made by students from Sunnyhills School

Can you spot the bugs hiding amongst the books?

After the library I met with a lovely young lady who would like to start volunteering. Alina is only in Year 8 and already wants to make a difference in her community.We are looking forward to helping her start her volunteering journey.

Lastly I went to our regular Youth Board meeting, these are held once a month on a Saturday afternoon from 2-4pm.

We have a group of 39 students from 8 different local colleges who meet to organise events for the community. The Chairperson- Larissa , runs the meetings alongside her executive committee. They are an incredible group of young people who are so enthusiastic about making a difference. This year they are planning a free community event called Together in the Park- this will be on Saturday 18th April at Barry Curtis Park. There will be a walk with activity stations around it, races, face painting, crafts and a fundraising sausage sizzle.

They have also started planning a Youth Volunteer Awards Night- a night to celebrate all the amazing youth in our community.

During the meeting Angela from Botany Citizens Advice Bureau popped in to explain how their service could help support young people.

Sunday- Ann and I went to Ormiston Town Centre to give out a few more Kindness Hearts to Community Heroes.

Two Community Heroes- local police officer and the wonderful Neighbourhood Support

Another Community Hero- Kai Zeng- Deputy Chair of Howick Local Board.Kai works very hard for our local community and is a great advocator for youth.

We are now looking forward to this week, returning to Sunnyhills School to work with the Year 4 and Year 5 students.