Snap Shots
The stories behind our projects and initiatives
Snap Shots
The stories behind our projects and initiatives
urban edibles in Papakura
Papakura's Urban Edible planters are great conversation starters, bringing us together as a community, on the street and on-line and making us famous across Auckland City.
One lady commented on our facebook page that she was so inspired by the planters that she created her own veggie garden.
some people even keep milk bottles filled with water in their cars to water the plants when they are out and about the town.
Australian Animal Rescue
In January 2020, we ran three 'Making Bee' sessions cutting fabric and sewing pouches, liners, knitting and crocheting nests and pouches etc for the wild animals caught in Australian bush fires. We had a huge response to these Making Bees, people donating fabric, wool, their time, and their skills.
An unexpected benefit for Sustainable Papakura is that some of these wonderful people have joined our volunteer team to help with other community projects.
Beeswax Wraps Bonanza
Hundreds of people have enjoyed making their own wraps, leaving with a sense of pride and a desire to use the wraps more, especially when they learn how bad soft plastics are for the environment. One beeswax wrap will save the use of the equivalent of 75 metres of plastic wrap, also diverting that from landfill.
People love the opportunity to add their own designs to fabric prior to waxing, personalising their wraps.
The children tell us how great their wraps are for keeping their sandwiches fresh. Many have come back to make more, like the family whose Dad had been using theirs for his lunches. The children made their own special design for Dad and thought about what he eats for lunch to decide on the size of the wrap.
Sir Edmund Hillary Library Partnership
Some of these workshops have been run in conjunction with Papakura's Library where the staff wanted to make re-useable popcorn wraps for movie nights held at the library during school holidays. A staff member designed a logo for the wraps and the kids all joined in to make them; they also had the opportunity to make one for home as well. The manager also bought glasses instead of plastic cups for drinks too, so they now have re-useable wastefree snack kit.
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Slippers for Kids Project, Winter 2020
During the Covid Lockdown some 30 Volunteers responded to the call to start knitting slippers for kids in the Kootuitui Trust Schools Cluster. Using donated wool, and some of their own, they knitted up a wonderful variety of slippers. Park Estate students were the first to receive slippers in late June when schools reopened. They enjoyed choosing size and colour to suit, noticed how warm they were, and there was even talk about a Slipper Party. Knitters continue to create more, and there are opportunities for people to learn to knit their own. Well done Papakura!
