Good Neighbour is a Tauranga run community, who want to provide practical support, and most importantly human connection during life’s toughest times. We all have an inbuilt desire to help people, but often don’t know how or where. Good Neighbour have created a central unit to help others, and to guide volunteers on how to help.
Good Neighbour is made up of four separate strands that combined with volunteers makes us a powerful agent of change in our neighbourhoods. These four strands are:
• Projects – Helping Neighbours Transform their Communities
• Food Rescue – No Waste, No Hunger
• Community Gardens – Achievable Gardening for Everyday People
• Kitchen – Food at the Heart of Change
Good Neighbour is a hub for community support. They provide practical help and facilitate key connections. With their work they address poverty to positively transform neighbourhoods and communities and build relationships.
At Good Neighbour, they enable communities and their people to access what they need in their life to thrive/flourish. It’s always a focus on giving people a hand up instead of a handout and support people by:
· Providing a place where people have a sense of belonging.
· Creating connections that empower them to improve the quality of their lives.
· Lifting everyday burdens of people living in the Bay of Plenty area through the simple principle: “give, provide service and make someone’s day”. When burdens are lifted, people can focus on other areas of need in their lives.
Good Neighbour is in an Accredited Activity Provider for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award, providing an amazing and transformative Volunteering Service opportunity for all levels of the Award. Sign up as a Volunteer in their network and achieve your Voluntary Service section through the exciting channels of engagement they work in. It aligns with the Kākāriki pathway and the He Aratūtahi pathway.
Good Neighbour offer various types of support:
1. Food rescue, where they collect and redistribute food that is good enough to eat but not good enough to sell. This food is distributed to over 70 organisations in the Bay of Plenty who then connect with the people they support.
2. Urban mahi, where it’s all about practical help and manpower. This team provides firewood, organises backyard clean-ups, lends out garden tools and equipment and coordinates the community gardens in Bethlehem.
3. The Good Neighbour Kitchen is about educating and mentoring students, volunteers, and community members to use food on hand to create nutritious meals, minimising food waste to landfill.
4. The Care team gives holistic and tailored support to community members who are in challenging life circumstances or even in crisis. By meeting their immediate needs, connecting them to our network and helping them with goal setting, they encourage them to grow their own capabilities and inspire them to thrive.
Good Neighbour work with a knowledgeable, proactive, and kind-hearted team, as well as key partners and an army of over 300 dedicated volunteers. Become one of them and together form an immense network of people who are committed to helping others thrive not just survive.
Ultimately, Good Neighbour want to inspire everybody to live better lives by seeing the needs of people and responding with kindness, compassion, and generosity. You can be a part of that too.
For more information, contact Angela: [email protected]
Vision | Te Whāinga Matua
Volunteers creating a serving culture. Professionalism and quality workmanship. Building relationships through sincere love in action. Sustainability and environmental concern. Collaboration and developing strong partnership. Loving people intentionally and equally. Leaving a legacy of hope in the lives of individuals and families.
Purpose | Te Koronga
Providing practical opportunities for people to support one another so that lives and neighbourhoods are transformed.