Tairua Friendship club celebrates with free lunch

By Pam Ferla

Tairua Care and Friendship Club is celebrating more than 30 years helping the community by offering a free lunch and warm welcome on Tuesday March 28. This will be at noon at Tairua Community Hall.

The lunch is provided by club volunteers and transport is available. Lunch co-ordinator, Agnes Topham, invites people to let her know if they are attending by March 21, for catering purposes.

It is 30 years since a group of Tairua women met at Mrs Cory-Wright’s home for a cuppa and chat, and identified the need for care and friendship in the community. Initially this support was only driving people to medical appointments.

Weekly community lunches began in 1993 and included transport to the hall if needed. Three years later the first community van was purchased, with the support of volunteer drivers. A couple of years later the club bought a second vehicle that had the benefit of a hoist. These vans and their community-minded drivers make a huge difference to the lives of residents with medical appointments out of town. The service has since extended to include Hikuai and Pauanui and is the only independent transport provider in that area.

The club holds regular lunches for Tairua residents every Tuesday for $10 and volunteers would love to see new faces at the tables. There are about six groups of cheery volunteers cooking and serving lunches on a roster, plus four drivers available for lunches. There are also drivers who do trips out of town. Agnes says the club is always on the lookout for more lunch volunteers and is keen to have more drivers.

Agnes says the club has changed over the years to meet the needs of the times and it is because of the ‘many wonderful people along the way’ that the club can provide the support it offers today.

To attend the free lunch please contact:

Agnes Topham, 021 293 8248 by Thursday March 23.