Four groups working with the homeless in Tauranga have been recognised, thanked for their work and each given a $2000 koha by the Ministry of Māori Development.
Four groups working with the homeless in Tauranga have been recognised, thanked for their work and each given a $2000 koha by the Ministry of Māori Development.
Kai Aroha, Under the Stars, Huria Marae and the Milo Night team were all presented with the grant money at a ceremony yesterday morning.
A Te Puni Kōkiri representative said: "Te Puni Kōkiri supports whānau, hapū, iwi, and community development. This is a small contribution to support the vulnerable members of our community."
Carlton said the team was excited about the acknowledgement.
She said the Milo Night community was also "over the moon".
"A little bit like us, surprised and excited and shocked. But the thing is, it's a recognition of the whole team really because we couldn't do it without all the other marvellous volunteers."
The Milo Night team legally became an association on Friday; they are called Street Kai Association Incorporated.
Their gatherings to help the homeless have also grown to three nights a week in central Tauranga, taking place on Monday, Thursday and Friday.
"It feels really positive and good because that's all we ever wanted, to do good stuff for our community and our homeless men and women of Tauranga Moana, and it's just lovely to have that recognition," Carlton said.
The groups received a $2000 koha each. Photo/ Supplied
Director of food charity Kai Aroha, Tania Lewis-Rickard, said on behalf of her team she felt "humbled, blessed and very thankful".
Kai Aroha helps feed the homeless in Greerton on Friday evenings.
"For my team and I to be recognised for the work we do is just heavenly. But it is actually not about just the money that was received today, it was more than that, it was about forging an even closer relationship with one another," Lewis-Rickard said.
She said the four groups shared a cause, were like-minded, were driven by similar beliefs, and had similar ideologies "of how things should be and could be better for our poverty community and we support each other".
Liz Kite, who runs Under the Stars, which provides meals, toiletries, showers, clothing and more for the homeless in Tauranga every Saturday night, was also at the ceremony.
"It's just amazing because we all work so hard. It's just being acknowledged for what we do … and acknowledged together because the team of us – between Kai Aroha, Street Kai, Huria Marae – do an amazing job with the people who are in need."
Kite said the $2000 would be a huge help and would go towards the bare necessities – nutritious meals and toiletries.
"It goes directly to the people, there's no middleman, there's no expenses taken out of that, it just goes specifically to the people, straight to the people."
Huria Marae's Sylvia Willison said the koha was an "awesome" relief, as it would help them buy food, toiletries and other items for the homeless, which is usually funded from their own resources.
Willison's daughter Kirsty was at the ceremony yesterday on behalf of the marae to receive the grant money.
Huria Marae implements its service for the homeless in partnership with Huria Trust and other volunteer groups.
Sylvia Willison said it was timely for the four groups to get together.
"With the establishment of the new Housing First [programme], it might be useful for us as a collective to actually start to feed into places like that, in terms of housing needs."
