KohaShed celebrates its second birthday
Over the past two years, hundreds of items have passed through the Nelson Koha Shed, helping thousands of people.
This months marks the anniversary of the local initiative, set up by a core of three Nelson women with a mission to help the community.
It was July 2015 when Cara Gledhill and Janine Brennan started the shed on the driveway of an acquaintance in Stoke.
Shortly after, Christine Dobson joined the team.
The initiative quickly outgrew the location, and a year later, the shed moved into two shipping containers outside Victory Community Centre.
‘‘The year has gone so fast,’’ Gledhill said.
‘‘Putting ourselves right in the heart of the need again [at Victory] but being more accessible has just made it absolutely boom.
‘‘The support we get from this community is just amazing, it’s huge.’’
The Koha Shed had become quite well known in Nelson, providing people with everything from blankets, clothes and children’s toys to whiteware and pet food.
‘‘It’s become a real community hub, everyone has this sense of ownership for it, which is exactly what we wanted from the get go,’’ Gledhill said.
People receiving the fridges or washing machines had a ‘‘huge amount of relief’’ that they didn’t have to fill in forms or jump through hoops to receive the goods, she said.
‘‘It’s nice to be able to provide that relief.’’
If Nelson didn’t have a Koha Shed, Gledhill said the void would be huge, especially for refugees who didn’t use the social media Pay it Forward pages to find items due to language barriers .
‘‘There’s [also] a lot of people who need help but are too embarrassed to put their hand up, especially on social media,’’ she said.
‘‘Here they can just come and take what they need.’’
Gledhill said other non-profit organisations had started to use the Koha Shed too.
‘‘Mental Health use us, Women Refuge, Nelson police.
‘‘Because it cuts through a lot of red tape for them you see, to come here and just be able to grab what they need and they’re always really appreciative.’’
Gledhill said Victory Community Centre had been a ‘‘god send’’, taking care of the administrative side of any monetary donations the shed received since becoming a Charitable Trust.
She said it was also really helpful to be able to send people that needed non-materialistic things over to the community centre, where they would be able to receive counselling or medical advice. Neither of the three women received any pay for their work and everything was done voluntarily, including opening it to the public three days a week.
‘‘We’ve had a bit of help of the community around us here on days they can pop in and give us a hand,’’ Gledhill said.
‘‘I particularly enjoy Saturday’s when we’re here ... people come in and they drop us morning tea.’’
Gledhill said at least 50 people come through the shed on the days that they’re open.
‘‘It does vary but most of the time it’s humming.’’
People had become better at not dumping rubbish at the shed’s door, Gledhill said, but they still had to get a skip for the occasions it did happen.
‘‘Unfortunately while some people think they’re helping [by donating] they’re not really. That’s probably my only frustration.’’
Gledhill said the Koha Shed had created a sense of ownership within the community.
‘‘If they [neighbours] see kids over here perhaps playing with the doors or running on the roof they’ll have words with them, and I love that because it means they have that sense of it belongs to everyone.’’
The Koha Shed is in need of volunteers, if interested contact Cara Gledhill on 022 414 3255 or Janine Brennan on 027 545 1554.