| Mahurangimatters 19 June 201318

Members of Warkworth Lions dedicate considerable time and effort to projects that improve and beautify our region. For example:

• Members fundraised and built the children’s playground on the Mahurangi Riverbank.• Contributed to the Warkworth Wharf project.• Are involved in the construction of a walkway from Kowhai View to the cement works.• Helped prepare the Warkworth Birthing Centre for painting. • Provide long-term support for Camp Bentzon on Kawau Island.• Organise the annual Take a Kid Fishing initiative.• Sponsor the Young Speechmaker contestant from Mahurangi College.

Members also fundraise and support numerous other worthy causes such as the Heart Foundation and Parkinson’s NZ.

But it’s not all work and no play – there are regular social activities and a monthly dinner meeting with entertaining guest speakers.

NEWMEMBERS WANTED

Where would we be without the Lions?

THE LIONS CLUB WARKWORTH ARE SEEKING

NEW MEMBERS NOW.

If you are interested in volunteering, leading projects, networking and having fun,

then contact:

David Little 425 8143Rob Ewenson 425 7281

THE CLUB COVERS WARKWORTH, SNELLS AND ALGIES, OMAHA, POINT WELLS, LEIGH, KAIPARA FLATS AND SCOTTS LANDING.

NEW MEMBERS, NEW BLOOD, NEW IDEASWE NEED

Helping handsFEATURE

Edna Wreaks has spent nearly 30 years volunteering at the Matakana Op Shop and says: “You can’t beat the satisfaction of adding the money up at the end of the week.”The 78-year-old is one of 20 local women who work for free, sorting and selling.The Op Shop offers a mix of bargains and rare items. It is owned by the Warkworth Anglican parish and gives around $24,000 to local groups every year.Mrs Wreaks says she was living on a Matakana sheep and beef farm and her children were getting older when she decided to join the Women’s Guild. “Someone said: ‘Why not start an Op Shop?’, so we did.”The store is located in the old Matakana post office on Matakana Valley Road. “Members of the public donated all sorts of things,” Mrs Wreaks says. “Clothes, tools, ornaments — you name it, we had it. We only had one room, so clothes had to be taken home, washed and sorted.”Mrs Wreaks says it has always been agreed that money made in the Op Shop is distributed to local charities as much as possible.This year funding has gone to local fire brigades, Warkworth Wellsford Hospice, Kawau Search and Rescue, Westpac Rescue Helicopter, Police Blue Light, and many others.

Stephen Leslie mows lawns most days of the week but if he’s pushing a lawnmower on a Wednesday, someone had better buy it. Stephen volunteers at Hospice’s weekly garage sale and is passionate about raising funds. “No-one wants to need hospice services but if you do and there isn’t enough money, we’re there to fundraise,” Stephen says. He started volunteering for Warkworth Wellsford Hospice last year to help with the heavy lifting involved in collecting and delivering furniture that people donate to, or buy from, Hospice’s Wednesday garage sales. Having worked himself into a financial position where he could afford to take time off to volunteer, he rearranged his lawn-mowing run so he could be at Hospice House every Wednesday. His sister-in-law was being treated for breast cancer at the time and the family was hoping for a cure. Miffy’s death in September was a devastating blow, but the tragedy further strengthened Stephen’s commitment to Hospice. “After seeing the relief and comfort that Hospice was able to give my brother’s wife, my feet are now cemented in the Hospice environment,” he says.His involvement has rubbed off on others, too. His lawnmowing clients often give him donations for Hospice and one of his friends will be joining the garage sale team – after he changes his feeding-out days on the farm.

Almost three decades of helping others

Passionate about fundraising

Stephen Leslie (right) is a passionate fundraiser for Hospice. He is with fellow volunteer Andrew Schedewy loading up the Hospice van during the weekly garage sale.

In addition to the satisfaction of helping Hospice maintain all its services free of charge, Stephen loves the camaraderie of the Hospice team. “It sometimes reminds me of that old TV programme, Are You Being Served?” he says. “It’s comical, serious, dedication and good honest people.”

Edna Wreaks

Mahurangimatters 19 June 2013 | 19

Helping handsNumerous groups in Mahurangi would not be able to exist without volunteers. y Warkworth RSA needs volunteers to drive members to and from Auckland for medical appointments, and to help with its information service, which explains things like pensions and veteran benefits. RSA manager Robbie Blair says the RSA’s Women’s section is a great fundraising vehicle for community projects and if women are interested in visiting the elderly or going on social trips, they should contact support officer Joss Myers on 425 5191.

y Warkworth St John Ambulance needs volunteers to help cover events and help staff the ambulance at night with a paramedic. During annual St John Week from June 24 to 28 the station will be selling raffle tickets in Warkworth all week. There’ll also be a collection stand outside New World supermarket. The station is having an open day on June 29 from 10am to midday.

y Coastguard Kawau relies on the generosity of the local community to train as crew and for the maintenance of its vessel based at Sandspit. “Although most of our volunteer time is spent on the water or with the boat-related activities,

Plenty of volunteering opportunities in Mahurangi

we also do a few land-based profile-building projects throughout the year to remind people we are here and we are local,” president Roger Davies says.

y Warkworth Wellsford Hospice has volunteers that support sick people and give caregivers a break. People are also required to work in the hospice’s two shops. The garage sale team sort items every Tuesday for the garage sale on Wednesday morning. Tuesday

mornings are also when the rag-cutting team get together. They cut up unwanted clothing and sell it to local businesses. During the week, teams pick up donations and do deliveries, clean equipment and answer the phone. Others work around special events, organising rosters, selling tickets and serving food.

y Wellsford Citizens Advice Bureau has 22 volunteers, who offer advice on topics such as education,

employment, business, finance, health and housing. Volunteers take part in an extensive training programme – the next one starts on July 7 and takes four days.

y Warkworth Rotarians volunteer their time to help with global projects such as the eradication of polio. At the local level they work on projects such as replacing a roof on a hospital in Vanuatu and helping raise funds for Hospice. The group also helps charities such as Adults in Motion and the local Scouts. “Warkworth Rotary is always looking for like-minded people in the community who would like to contribute,” vice president Nick Hadley says. “You don’t even have to be a member in the traditional sense — just turn up to specific projects when you can help.”

y Warkworth Lions membership officer David Little says volunteers help complete many projects that would otherwise not be possible due to a scarcity of funds. “Recent projects include support for Springboard at Snells Beach, the local Scouts and of course the ongoing construction of the walkway to the Cement Works.” The Lions are planning a working weekend at Camp Bentzon and a Young Ambassadors contest.

Coastguard Kawau volunteers are responsible for maintaining a vessel at Sandspit.

50 Years of Service to the Community“People like you and me achieving extraordinary things”

To learn more call the PR team Peter Johns 0274 807 451 or Joy Paxton 422-2290

The Rotary Club of Warkworth & District Inc is proud to have provided

ROTARY FIGHTS TO ERADICATE POLIOThe Beginning of The EndIt was 1979 when Rotary first made efforts to eradicate Polio on a widespread scale. Providing humanitarian grant funding and hands-on support from everyday Club members, the community service organisation committed to a five-year effort in partnership with the government of the Philippines to immunise about six million children against polio. Buoyed by the success of this initiative, several years later Rotary International would begin an initiative with the aim of eradicating polio worldwide.“When Rotary International launched PolioPlus in 1985, more than 125 countries were still polio endemic, and at least a thousand children were paralysed every day” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a worldwide Rotary Convention in 2009. In 1985 there were over 350,000 cases of polio worldwide and the prognosis for many sufferers was a term of illness plagued by muscle weakness, breathing difficulties, fatigue, pain or even paralysis.

Since then, Rotary has been responsible for the immunisation of over 2 billion children worldwide. With Rotary’s work providing the catalyst for the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, Rotary’s work alongside UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has led a campaign providing a total of more than 10 billion doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) worldwide. As a consequence of these efforts, annual diagnosed cases of polio have declined by over 99.9%, with just 291 cases recorded in 2012 and only three countries remaining polio endemic - Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. These are staggering numbers, especially when contemplating the alternate prospect for many lives – confinement to crutches, leg braces, wheelchairs and negative pressure respirators (“iron lungs”), all of which have been hallmarks of different kinds of severe polio infection.

| Mahurangimatters 19 June 201320

Phone 425 8567 • Mason Bins • www.northlandwaste.co.nz

ASON BINSA DIVISION OF NORTHLAND WASTE LTD

Based on per weekly empty for 80 litre bin. Available in 80, 120 and 240 litre bin sizes for general refuse.*Special conditions apply.

From$2.45*

per week

WHEELIE BINS

*10c from every bag you buy will be donated to your local hospice - an estimated $15,000 per year!!

Wellsford

VOLUNTEERS WANTED

We need men and women as volunteers to assist the people in

your community and help find solutions to their problems.

Our services cover the Warkworth, Wellsford and

Mangawhai areas.

Come and talk to us TODAY!   

1 Matheson Road, WellsfordMonday-Friday 10am to 3pm

Phone 09 423 7333 or 0800 367 222

Email: cab.wells@xtra.co.nz

Around 170 volunteers turned up to Tawharanui Regional Park on Queen’s Birthday weekend to plant almost 100,000 shrubs and trees.The greenery was sourced from the park’s onsite nursery and included manuka, kanuka, flax, coprosma, cabbage trees and kahikatea.Tawharanui Open Sanctuary Society (Tossi) chairman Steve Palmer says his group has around 300 members, 50 of whom are regular volunteers. Others just like to lend a hand. Apart from maintaining the nursery and planting, their jobs involve predator-fence checking, weed eradication, trap line monitoring and helping with seabird recovery. Volunteers recently installed a sound system and nesting boxes to attract petrels at the end of the peninsula.Mr Palmer says many helpers have camped at Tawharanui, enjoyed the experience and wanted to give something back to the park. “Then there’s the more green-blooded conservationists who want to create something for future generations.”He says volunteers are made up of roughly 50 percent locals and 50 percent Aucklanders.“Some bach owners come out for a weekend and are members. Others

Volunteers ensure regional park flourishes

help to counteract city life. They clearly see it as an attraction of Auckland.”Mr Palmer says volunteers are crucial and add value to the park. “If it weren’t for them we’d only be planting between 3-5,000 plants a year. At the moment we’re planting 20,000.”Volunteers contribute around $50,000 each year towards things like trees, boardwalks and bird translocations. Longtime volunteer and founding

Tossi committee member Alison Stanes has been helping since 1998 when it was rumoured pine trees would be planted and a trail bike path constructed. “There was only one woman on the committee and I thought there should be more.”The Remuera resident used to lead tramping parties to the park and helped plant trees with rangers.She is the official Tossi photographer, designs display banners, and is

responsible for the sanctuary information hut and the photos in the new bird hide beside the lagoon.“Over the years I have had delightful rewards while out working on the park: white head chicks busy feeding fluffy chicks snuggled up together, the surprise of encountering new broods of pateke ducklings, holding kiwi while transmitters were changed, seeing brand new NZ dotterel chicks freshly hatched, still cosy in the nest before they set off to feed for themselves.“Once I took a break from spraying pampas and ended up swimming with dolphins, and when out with a team grubbing thistles some years ago we spent the day rescuing an orca.”Ms Stanes ran the exhibition known as “Art in the Woolshed” – which showcased art works with an environmental twist – in 2004, 2006 and 2012, and spends around 200 hours at the park each year.Her reasons for participating are clear: “It’s the satisfaction I’m doing something worthwhile for the planet.”*Tossi volunteer day is held on the first Sunday of every month. A committee member hosts each gathering. Meet at the woolshed at 9.15am. A BBQ lunch is held and a range of jobs are available.

Celia Mannion a regular volunteer plants a coprosma while cabbage trees wait to go in the ground nearby. PHOTO/ALISON STANES

Helping hands

Mahurangimatters 19 June 2013 | 21

from Warkworth Wellsford Hospice National Volunteer Week 16-22 June

THANK YOU!

shop staff + goods sorters + garage sale teams + event helpers + + family supporters + caterers + tradespeople + maintenance man

complimentary therapists + + community groups fundraisers + life story writers + office workers + rag cutters + lawn mower

+ gardeners + craftspeople + + bakers + project team advisory board

We couldn’t do it without you

HOSPICE

To all our wonderful, dedicated

Coastguard Kawau needs More PeoPLe...CaMaraderIe Coastguard Kawau is the local unit based at Sandspit. We are a group of more than 30, spread over three crews (operating on a rotating basis) and on-shore support people. Our team includes men, women, all ages and interests so we have a great network of people with great skills and experience, and participation in our social get-togethers is encouraged! CoMMItMent There is a requirement to learn the ropes the Coastguard way with training given in all manner of nautical-related matters, including navigation, boat handling and medical training. Training occurs naturally on all callouts, with emphasis on specifics every third Sunday out on the water, and regular in-house training. Alongside this, individuals are offered evening courses at their own pace to get through the modules. Summer has a greater number of callouts, with our average annual callout rate being about once a week. Help with annual fundraising in lottery ticket selling is expected during the summer months. If you’re fit and healthy, keen to be associated with volunteer work on the water, why not make a no-obligation call to Roger Davies on 027 488 0533 and find out if this could be your next calling?

BECOME A VOLUNTEER AND sAVE LiVEs AT sEA

Albertland & District Museum

The Albertland Heritage Centre holds a treasure trove of family histories, diaries, manuscripts and photographic collections relating to the Albertland Special Settlement of the 1860’s. Staffed solely by a dedicated band of volunteers, and given that the adjacent new library is now open, the Heritage Centre seeks more visitor hosts and research assistants when opening hours are extended. If you have a couple of hours a week to assist contact the Heritage Centre Phone 423 8181 or email museum@albertland.co.nz

Phone 423 8181 or email museum@albertland.co.nz

More people than ever are putting up their hand to volunteer, but community groups need to play catch-up, the general manager of Volunteering Auckland says.Cheryll Martin says the number of people willing to help has tripled in the last three years, although finding suitable volunteering opportunities is becoming more difficult.“Community groups think the stereotypical volunteer is retired and will do something long term but lots are looking for short-term flexibility and project-based work that they can see will make a difference.”She says groups need to look at who is coming forward and what it is that will attract them.“Jobs are changing from envelope-stuffing and bucket-shaking, and over half those coming forward are in their early 20s. They want to make a difference and they’re thinking globally. They’re thinking: ‘If I do this it will have a ripple effect’.”Ms Martin says Volunteering Auckland is seeing more corporate businesses engaging in the community doing one-day projects, and more students looking for opportunities to hone their skills.She says with funding squeezes, it’s

Volunteer week celebrates peopleVolunteers across NZ will be in the limelight during National Volunteer Week from June 16 to 22. Vanisa Dhiru, chief executive of Volunteering New Zealand (VNZ), says volunteers are the backbone of our society. “National Volunteer Week is an amazing opportunity to celebrate everything volunteers contribute to NZ. Volunteers make our communities tick.” The theme for National Volunteer Week is “He Tangata! He Tangata! He Tangata!” which means “it is people, it is people, it is people”. The phrase refers to a Maori proverb asking what is the most important thing in the world. “Every volunteer has a great story,” says Vanisa. “National Volunteer Week is a time to celebrate these people. It signifies a true celebration of the volunteerism in our communities and projects people gift their time to.”

Organisations need to change with the times

Volunteering Auckland general manager Cheryll Martin says more people are seeking short-term, project-based work.

getting harder to attract money.“We’re having to rely on volunteers more and more, unfortunately. Since the recession, the philanthropic dollar has nosedived.”Volunteering Auckland is starting a project with Hibiscus/Bays and Rodney Local Board that will look at what’s happening with volunteering, what’s needed and how to support it. “We’re putting together a training project for that that looks at how to find volunteers and how to keep them engaged and mobilised.”

Helping hands