BNZ open hearts on Closed for Good day

OUTDOORS: Tackling the Featherston Plunket Rooms backyard are BNZ volunteers Caroline Snelgrove (left), Fran Haigh, Jacque Gray, Cathy Hayes and Lisa Hoswell, with James Grindlay in the sandpit.

Nearly 4000 BNZ employees around the country left their stores for all of Thursday, helping community groups and not-for-profit organisations as part of their Closed for Good campaign.

Now in its fifth year, Closed for Good is New Zealand's largest corporate volunteering day and involves BNZ staff mobilising to help their local communities.

BNZ staff in Wairarapa headed to Featherston School, Featherston Plunket and Carterton Tennis Club.

At Carterton the volunteers painted the clubrooms, using materials donated by Carters.

At Featherston Plunket the volunteers created an outdoor music wall of pots and pans, filled the empty sandpit with sand, created a "tyre caterpillar" and a log stepping obstacle course.

Co-ordinating the Featherston Plunket team was Karyn Wilkins, who said the volunteers were "amazing".

"We had a big list of things we had to do and we got through all of them. They worked really hard."