Group gets some new wheels
South Taranaki Neighbourhood Support has a new set of wheels thanks to the Toi Foundation.
Chairwoman Carol Curtis says now the community organisation has a car, they can regularly travel to the rural parts of the district.
“We have a big area from Whenuakure River to Eltham and then Rahotu right through to Skeet Rd. In the past we had to drive our vehicles.
“There was one time when a volunteer clocked up 100km. It’s not viable to have our volunteers doing that.”
Carol says she and development coordinator Wendy Foreman wanted the most economical car and spent time researching before settling on a Toyota Rav-4.
“We received the funds late last year but spent months researching the right car. We needed something fit for purpose and the best value. We needed room in the back for tables and chairs to take to our events and something that could tow a trailer.
“We took it to Wellington for the National Neighbourhood Support conference. It was great to have ours signwritten.”
They collected the car from Tasman Toyota Ha¯wera last month.
“They assisted us by installing a
drawbar and sponsored us. We’ve also had support from Fonterra who supplied us with MTA vouchers to
help fill the tank.”
Wendy says having a car also makes the community organisation more visible.
“It makes people aware of who we are and our place in the community. We have it signwritten so when people see it, they know who we are.”
They have the car just in time for their licence plate anti-theft drive next month. Wendy says the team will be at Bunnings selling purposebuilt screws that prevent people from stealing licence plates.
“We’ve had an influx of vehicle break-ins and licence plates being stolen. We’ve decided to host this as a way to combat those thefts.”