NEWS RELEASE — 17 FEBRUARY 2015

Mormon Helping Hands Volunteers Join Community to Lift New Zealand Street

FLAXMERE, NEW ZEALAND —

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined with others on Saturday 14 February 2015 to give a Flaxmere New Zealand street a spruce up.

Hastings District Council (HDC) invited the Flaxmere Stake of the Church along with two other churches to participate in a street and park clean-up project.

"Mormon Helping Hands" volunteers joined with HDC staff, representatives of NZ Police, members of the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship congregation, Innov8 Group and residents of the street on the day.

The project involved: cleaning the local playground; clearing rubbish from the backyards and tidying the gardens of nine homes; and felling trees, removing overgrown shrubs and bushes.

The volunteers plan to go back in the next few weeks to paint a playgound mural and park fence.

The group filled two giant skips, a truck-load of rubbish and a trailer of scrap metal. The HDC will remove almost a section full of green waste that couldn’t fit in the skips.

Hastings District Council Project Manager, Robyn Smith, said, “We’ve had a few problems with park and playground vandalism and the state of the homes in this street. We needed to do something to help lift the area. We approached Helping Hands first to assist us with this project and they invited other churches and community groups to participate on the day. The response has been wonderful and we’ve been able to achieve a great amount of work today.”

Latter-day Saint leader in Flaxmere, Wayne Te Kira, said, “It’s great to see members helping out in our own community. We don’t always see what hides behind the tidy street fronts of homes in our area. We needed to reach out to families who are really struggling in our own backyard."

President Te Kira said that in helping 12 households they found three Latter-day Saint families who have not attended church for some time. "Bishop was able to make return appointments on the day to come back and visit with these families.”

Latter-day Saint volunteer, Wilray Price, was asked by the HDC come back to paint a mural on the new playground wall. He’ll work with the children and residents of the street to design and complete the mural over the next few weeks.

The Mormon Helping Hands program brings together members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their neighbours to provide community service. These volunteers in their trademark yellow shirts help people whose lives have been affected by natural disasters and other emergencies. Mormon Helping Hands volunteers also partner with government and nonprofit organizations to support and improve the communities where they live.

The Helping Hands program reflects the desire of Mormons to follow the example of Jesus Christ by serving others. The effort receives resources from Church humanitarian services, and the projects are coordinated by local Church leaders.

Latter-day Saint congregations in New Zealand take part in Mormon Helping Hands projects at different times throughout the year as needs are identified, but February is set aside as national Mormon Helping Hands month.

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