A drop-in centre is soon to be trialled in Māpua to find out what services the community wants, but first it needs more volunteers to help run the sessions.
Māpua Community Wellness Trust (MCWT) wants to make health and well-being services more accessible to the community, by connecting with other services to bring them to the village, rather than having to travel to places like Richmond.
Chairman John Botting says the community is growing, but while there is planning for more houses, there isn’t planned infrastructure such as services.
The goal of MCWT is to connect the community with some of those services, once it knows what people want.
The trust had originally planned to set something up in the Old Church, but that proved difficult and it is now working with the Māpua Community Hall where it plans to establish the drop-in centre for a trial of six months and open twice a week.
John sees it as an opportunity for locals to drop in for a cup of coffee, have a friendly chat and meet new people in relaxed surroundings. Initially, it is about finding out from locals what services are needed.
“It’s about connecting with other community agencies because there’s no one group that can do everything on their own.
“If we run a six-month trial, we can assess the needs of the community down the track and we can more accurately assess what we can offer as a connector with other services.”
One of the services the trust is investigating is a possible youth worker on a part-time basis who could focus on youth activities in the community – based on what youth want. The trust carries out fundraising activities so it has funds it can use for that purpose.
While trust members will run the drop-in sessions, he says they also need volunteers for a roster that will cover two sessions a week. Each volunteer would only have to attend one session every couple of weeks, but until it has sufficient volunteers, the trust cannot start the six-month trial.
Anyone interested in volunteering at the drop-in centre can email Vicky Stocker at gvstocker@gmail.com
