St Mary's Room 8 helping the Sisters of St Joseph restore their wetlands. Photo/ Lewis Gardner
St Mary's Room 8 helping the Sisters of St Joseph restore their wetlands. Photo/ Lewis Gardner
Muddy faces and more than 500 native plants covered the banks of Mt St Joseph in Whanganui on Wednesday.
Thanks to a $750 grant from Horizons Regional Council and an additional 300 trees donated by the Trees That Count initiative, the wetland on Mt St Joseph is being restored.
Sister Margaret Rowley said restoring the wetland had been a continuous operation.
"After the big June floods in 2015 there were a lot of slips. The aim is to preserve the hillside so it doesn't collapse again," Sister Margaret said.
Three Sisters of St Joseph nuns were assisted by a classroom of St Mary's students and around 20 community volunteers.
Around 30 children, aged 9 to 11, spent the day carrying buckets of soil, filling the holes and planting the baby native trees.
(Left to right) Waiora Haiwira, 10, Kayne Whiti, 10, Alexandra Henderson-Kruger, 10, lend a hand to get the hillside planted. Photo/ Lewis Gardner
St Mary's teacher, Cath Daignault, said the land belonged to the Sisters of St Joseph and they founded St Mary's school so it was important the students were able to show a helping hand.
"We need to look after our environment. The nuns are doing their part and we are encouraging our students to do their part - living what we preach," Ms Daignault said.
Sister Noelene Landrigan said they were planting as much as they could on Wednesday and the Department of Corrections would finish the job off on Friday.
"Rotary North also saw it in the paper and have donated 60 trees - one for every Rotary member.
"We've had a fantastic day so far, the staff have had scones and pikelets and the kids got juice and lollies and will receive a certificate so it's all very exciting," Sister Noelene said.
Sophie Kendrick, 10, helping Sister Liz Hickey plant a tree. Photo/ Lewis Gardner
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart were one of 12 community groups across the Manawatu-Whanganui Region who received funding from Horizons Regional Council's community grants programme.
Set up in 2012, the grants fund was established to support community groups, schools, early childhood centres, and iwi/hapu groups with projects that enhance the region and encourage more people to engage with the natural environment.
