Several community groups and organisations were celebrated at the Thames Seagull Centre’s community grants celebration on September 10.
A total of 28 grants of between $250 and $1000 were handed out for community-focused projects across Hauraki and the Coromandel Peninsula.
In total, the trust gave out just over $20,000. The projects included planting and gardening initiatives, sewing workshops, pest control, equipment, and social research.
Seagull Centre Trust chair Ian Coatsworth said the trust had only planned on awarding 20 grants.
“The calibre of the applications… we can’t not give them anything, you know?”
Among this year’s grant recipients were several school groups. Kerepēhi School’s Pippi, aged 7, and Ngataierua, 6, presented their plan for a sensory and mara hupara garden space at the school.
“We’ve got a sensory garden slash traditional Maori garden,” their teacher said.
“It’s going to be like a playground, but all natural things like big logs, big boulders. Lots of stuff from the environment.”
Also present were 11-year-old Pippa and Storm, and eight-year-old Jacob, from Pārāwai School. Their school envirogroup had plans to develop a wheelchair-accessible raised garden.
“We realised that [fellow student] Lucas and other members of our community, they can look at our gardens, they can smell our gardens, but they can’t be interactive,” they said.
“So, we decided, wouldn’t it be cool to have a wheelchair access garden.”
The Seagull Centre’s community waste educator Lucci Hennah said the trust was always happy to support projects that had a positive effect on the community.
“We had 35 applicants this year, all with some really, really awesome projects,” she said.
“[There was] lots of growth from our tamariki in regards to gardens, which was awesome.
“Next year I want to look at the United Nations sustainability goals and get community groups to see how they’re meeting those standards as well so that we can show on a big picture level, how it connects to everybody.”
Grant recipients: Pauanui Lakes Resort, native flora planting; Colville Junction, pest trap; Thames South School, native planting; Netherton School, fruit trees; Thames Coast Kiwi Care, winch for vehicle; Pūriri School, mulch and garden equipment; Barnardos Turua, raised garden beds and rainwater collection; Thames Mountain Bike Club, pest traps; Hikutaia Hall, table and kitchenware; Sarah Elyse, community sewing machines; Stepping Out Hauraki, garden beds and fruit trees; Thames High School, hāngi equipment; Te Mata Jasmine Death Squad, weed spray; Predator Free Pauanui, pest traps; Matatoki School, native plants and soil; Tairua School, worm farm and recycling bins; Central Kids Thames, excursion equipment; Kerepēhi School, garden structures and plants; Turua Domain Irrigation Project, pump shed; Thames Scout Group, overnight packs; Whitianga Bike Park, native trees; Hue Kotahi, garden supplies; Pest Free Tairua, pest traps; Moanataiari School (two projects), bokoshi and recycling bins, chook project; Whakaora, research funding; Central Kids Ngatea, compost tumbler and pataka shed.
