Baby Arlee Awa Tarei-Uerata with mum Eileen Uerata. Photo/Andrew Warner
Every now and then there are the stories we like to call warm and fluffy. They are the 'good news' stories, and here are some snippets of a selection of some of our favourites from last year. Click the headlines to read the full stories.
A 9-year-old's friendship fundraiser for Tauranga foodbank
"I don't want people to be lonely or not have any friends," 9-year-old Noelle Tito says.
"Because I have got three very good friends at my school and I like to play with them every day."
And so Noelle, an amazingly selfless and eloquent young girl from Pyes Pa, came up with a plan – a friendship festival.
After months of organising, about 100 people from her neighbourhood, her school and her church took part in an evening full of fun with performances, food, face painting, a bouncy castle, a mums and bubs area, and even a visit from Mr Whippy.
The event was so successful Noelle now wants to host a friendship festival every year and is grateful for the generosity of this year's attendees.
Noelle quickly adds: "Maybe in five years like half of New Zealand will be there."
Bikers hit roads for flood victims
A "fast-talking Maori boy" was the toast of Te Teko after organising a charity ride of hundreds of bikers travelling from Tauranga to Edgecumbe.
Tauranga Weekend Rider Tony Ngawhika called on his motorbiking community earlier this year to come together yesterday for a ride to raise money for Edgecumbe flood victims.
About 450 people responded, raising about $7000. Mr Ngawhika said he was humbled at the camaraderie among his biking buddies, some of whom travelled from Taranaki and Kaitaia.
"Guys like me who ride down the road, we are just normal people who care for our community and care for our children," he said.
Life-saving gift for Tauranga woman
Getting to know each other over a cup of mocha has led one Tauranga mother to offer to donate a kidney to another- an offer which initially stunned both women.
"It's far better than winning Lotto," said 29-year-old Brookfield solo mother Frankie Egglestone, who has been close to death several times.
Nine people offered to donate a kidney, but cross-match testing revealed none were a match.
Doctors told her there was only a 10 per cent chance she would find a perfect match.
When Egglestone served Lianne Bateman breakfast at work at Cafe 359, Bateman offered up her kidney.
"I had no intention of doing so, until the words came out of my mouth. But once they did, it felt entirely right.
"All I want is for Frankie to be well again. To me it's a no-brainer. I have a spare kidney, and apparently it's quite healthy. Frankie's my friend, and I love her, and I don't want her to die. I want her to be around for as long as humanly possible."
Tauranga baby named after special and coincidental circumstances
When Tauranga mum Eileen Uerata fell pregnant her family was homeless.
The circumstances surrounding her son's birth inspired the new mum to name him Arlee Awa Tarei-Uerata after the emergency housing home they ended up in.
On June 3, Miss Uerata's waters broke.
Baby Arlee Awa Tarei was born on June 4 at 11.11am at a healthy 6lb 90z at Tauranga Hospital.
It was the exact time Tauranga-based Bay of Plenty regional councillor Te Awanuiarangi (Awanui) Black passed away on November 30, 2016, Miss Uerata said.
One of the Te Tuinga Whanau Trust's emergency houses Whare Awa was named after Black, so Uerata said it was fitting that the newborn was named after him and the home too.
"He is pretty special," Miss Uerata said.
"It just all tied together. We were having an interview for something good to come out of a s****y situation we were in and I thought it would be perfect."
Good Lord, Richard! Te Puke man's 60 years for same company
Richard Lord has been working for the same company for 60 years.
The 78-year-old agent with PGG Wrightson Real Estate in Te Puke has outlasted almost too many iterations of the company to count - mergers, splits, rebrandings, reshuffles, redundancy rounds.
All have come and gone, but he has remained.
"I haven't changed, the world has changed itself around me - to its detriment," he said, chucking behind his moustache.
He joined Dalgety, which later became PGG Wrightson, in 1957 when he was 18. He was the office junior in Hamilton and most of his work was filing.
Over the next six decades, he worked as a stock agent, a sub-branch manager and executive officer, spending time in offices in Huntly, Hastings, Dannevirke, Te Awamutu, Pahiatua and Te Puke twice.
There will be food, fun and games - and a jolly man in a red suit.