Porirua horticultural training programme receives Medibank Community Fund grant

29 June 2012

A Porirua trust that helps disadvantaged and at-risk youth learn food growing skills has been awarded a Medibank Community Fund grant to expand its operations.

The Asert-Tātou Development Trust, in partnership with Whitireia Community Polytechnic, runs a training and work programme where participants learn to grow organic food sustainably, build self confidence and develop marketable skills and knowledge for a career in the horticultural sector.

Administrator and tutor Sam Buchanan says the Trust is delighted to be one of the New Zealand recipients of the Medibank Community Fund. The $9,200 grant will be used to maintain and improve the Trust’s programmes over the next year.

“We plan to develop our training programme and further our community outreach to raise awareness of the benefits of a good diet and the improvement in personal well-being that comes from growing your own food.”

The Trust sells organic fruit and vegetables, including its own produce, at its premises in Hassell Road, Kenepuru, and at local markets, and hopes to be self-sustaining before 2015.

Mr Buchanan says Te Rito Gardens depends heavily on volunteers to provide extra coaching and assistance to students. “This funding will allow us to provide equipment and good working conditions, and to reimburse the expenses of our volunteers.

“Funding is an on-going headache which can make it difficult to retain the skills we need to deliver our programmes. This grant gives us confidence that we can maintain and improve our programmes over the next 12 months.”

The Trust will be presented with the grant on June 29 at a special lunch at its premises to celebrate Matariki, the Māori New Year. Guests will be guided around the garden project, meet students and tutors from the programme, and hear about other New Zealand grant recipients.

The 2012 round of Medibank Community Fund Community Grants will provide $60,000 of funding for New Zealand projects that make important contributions to the health and wellbeing of local communities.

Each grant addresses at least one of the grant criteria of encouraging healthy eating, physical activity, or community connectedness. The Other New Zealand recipients of Medibank Community Fund grants are:

• Aro Valley Community Council Wellington
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$8,400 to fund a community development coordinator to oversee three community gardens established by Kai o te Aro, a volunteer community gardening network promoting community development, urban sustainability, waste minimisation, local organic food production and healthy eating in Wellington's inner city suburb of Aro Valley.

• Whanau Aroha Centre, Central Hawke’s Bay
•
$10,000 to fund a breakfast club, after school programme and community garden. The Breakfast Club provides a nutritious meal before school, and the after school programme teaches children to cook healthy, cost-effective, family meals that they can then cook at home.

• Holy Family Catholic School, Porirua
•
$5,000 to fund the school’s breakfast club, which provides 200 healthy breakfasts for students aged 5-10 years. The club relies on supervision from school staff and occasional volunteer assistance from the parent community, so is also a useful way of involving and engaging the local community.

• Morningside School, Morningside, Whangarei
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$5,200 to further develop a food garden, established in 2011 by Northland Polytech at Morningside School as part of a horticulture course. Students engage in edible plant propagation ‘from seed to table’, plus the full range of tasks associated with a school garden.

• Wesley Community Action, Cannons Creek
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$22,200 for the Cannons Creek Community Pantry, which works with food bank clients and other volunteers in a reciprocal initiative to grow vegetables and fruit on Wesley Community Action property and in other gardens in the community.

Medibank Community Fund ambassador Anna Soesbergen says the grant is an important investment in community health. “The Medibank Community Fund Community Grants programme is all about helping grassroots projects improve health at a local level and we’re delighted to give a funding boost to a programme that is making such an important contribution to participants and to the Porirua community.”

ENDS

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