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Maintenance at one of the area’s favourite parks, the Mangawhai Activity Zone (MAZ), is changing and volunteers are needed to ensure the area continues to be properly looked after.
For the past eight years, the park has been the focus of court-directed community service workers, overseen by corrections liaison officer, Ken Rayward.
Rayward has dedicated his weekends to managing hundreds of community service workers, who have paid their dues by maintaining the park’s grounds, but he has now decided to step away from the role.
“Personally, I got a lot out of my experiences with the workers who were able to use their skills to put something meaningful back into their community,” Rayward says.
“Many still return regularly just to help out when needed. MAZ also benefited hugely from their work and closing off this supply of skilled labour has been quite a concern for me.”
But a solution has been found.
The monthly MAZ Community Clean Up events, coordinated by Ian and Heidi Carter, will now include a working bee.
Starting on July 6, the new initiative, the MAZ Community Environmental Team (CET), will combine the essential street rubbish pickup with MAZ maintenance tasks, from lawn mowing, weed eating, water blasting and sand sweeping to weeding, planting gardens and any repair work.
Rayward will stay on as corrections liaison officer to allow current workers to complete their hours at MAZ, “instead of doing rubbish collection in Whangarei,” while implementing the new volunteer group.
“The rubbish collection has always been on the first Sunday of every month and will now include a broader selection of tasks that volunteers are happy to take on,” Rayward says. “The idea sits well with the ethos of MAZ being community-driven. As an enticer for the first working bee, coffees and pastries will be provided at the café for all volunteers!”
To find out more or register for the MAZ Community Environmental Team, visit www.mangawhaiactivityzone.co.nz
Reminder dates for the event will be advertised in the Mangawhai Focus.
