My Account
It’s not often that someone turns up and gives you a couple of hundred dollars without warning, but that’s just what happened at Tapora School recently.
Staff and pupils were bemused, but thrilled when Tomarata couple Frank and Lesley King-Turner arrived at the school and presented them with $260 in cash on July 6.
Teacher Michelle Carmichael said the money, which was raised at a Saturday soccer sausage sizzle, was a lovely surprise and Frank and Lesley’s community spirit was a terrific example for students.
“I told them if there were more people in the world like them, what an amazing place it would be,” she said.
Dairy farmers Frank and Lesley man the barbecue and run the tuck shop every Saturday morning at the Port Albert football ground, where the recently formed Wellsford Athletic Football Club runs a junior soccer tournament for teams from Wellsford, Kaipara and Matakana.
Treasurer Cushla Smith, also a dairy farmer, said she knew Lesley had run the tuck shop for Tomarata School events at Port Albert and Frank volunteered to cook the sausages every week, so they started a regular Saturday sausage sizzle.
They also made a list of local sports teams, primary schools and other good causes to be given the proceeds from selling the sausages, snacks and drinks every week, and Frank and Lesley volunteered to deliver the surprise gifts in person.
“We just turn up and hand it over,” Frank said. “We usually make around $250 to $300 or more, and it all stays local.
“We took it upon ourselves to do it, we’re just doing our bit for the community.”
King-Turner is no stranger to community service, having been a Lions club stalwart for many years at the Wellsford and Kowhai Coast clubs, and as District Governor for the Lions 202K district, which stretches from the Coromandel north to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, in 2017.
Recipients of the sausage sizzle proceeds this season have so far included Wellsford Kindergarten, Warkworth and Wellsford Food Rescue, football teams playing at Port Albert and a number of rural schools.
