More than 40 students volunteered their time to the Whangārei North Haven Hospice store on Monday in celebration of New Zealand's National Volunteer Week.
The students from Whangārei Girls' High School and Whangārei Boys' High School spent the afternoon sorting donations, cleaning and pricing them, and arranging them in store, ready to sell.
With art teacher Ashleigh Zimmerman, junior Whangārei Girls' High students decorated the footpaths along Robert and James Streets with a brightly coloured chalk mural.
The mural expressed why these students believe volunteering in the community is so important.
![Whangārei Girls' High School students create a volunteering-themed chalk art mural on the footpath outside the North Haven Hospice Shop. Emmie Ferguson and Petiwaea Thompson, both 13, start their mural with Amber Stephens,13, Amia Ringrose,14, Anya Miller,13, and Maria Cullen,13, at the back. Photo / Tania Whyte](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/YECPIONQG3RIHNHTNQMULLBO6U.jpg?auth=54c9211ce9b55e2c11b279484ece637b069ec3f6c3c6eff8a8793f0398dedae0&width=16&height=12&quality=70&smart=true)
Boys' High students are regular "pop-in" volunteers at the Hospice shop and have been for a year, volunteering every second Tuesday.