Tireless volunteer sets great example
Cambridge’s Rocky Teepa embodies the ethos of saying little but achieving much, Jeremy Smith reports. A community is often underpinned by strong, selfless people who shy away from the limelight but always step forward when something needs to be done.
Cambridge’s Rocky Teepa is a perfect example of the type of person who helps make a community tick.
When not hard at work weeding, planting or maintaining the Leamington Community Garden, which he and his late wife, Beryl, started in 2006, he is likely to be delivering free produce from the garden to rest homes such as Cambridge’s Resthaven.
In winter, Mr Teepa delivers trailerloads of free firewood to the homes of Cambridge people who don’t have the means of getting it themselves.
How did he know which people to ask if they wanted firewood? He compiled a list of homes in Cambridge with fireplaces and found out which people were either elderly or in need.
‘‘A few of those I have given firewood to have been quite embarrassed and have tried to give me money. But I won’t take it; I don’t do it for that,’’ Mr Teepa said.
And in the holiday season, the Christmas lights display at Mr Teepa’s home – something he has been doing for more than 10 years – is also a place where he collects donations for the Cancer Society.
Mr Teepa donated $530 to the society last year – money popped into a donation box by appreciative visitors to his lights
Rocky Teepa at work in the Leamington Community Garden, which provides vegetables to rest-home residents and other members of the community. Photo: Jeremy Smith/Fairfax NZ display. ‘‘The society does such great work,’’ he said.
Much of what Mr Teepa does to help the community and people in need is inspired by his late wife.
‘‘I would sit down with her and say, ‘I have an idea’, and she would say, ‘Well, here’s how you could do it’.’’
It was a dynamic partnership of more than 20 years, broken last June when Beryl died.
But Mr Teepa carries on much of what the couple dreamed up together as a way to honour her memory. ‘‘We were together for 23 good years.’’ That’s also how long Mr Teepa has been in Cambridge and since arriving, he has been looking for ways to serve.
‘‘I guess because when I was younger I saw my elders setting a good example. If we set a good example for our kids and the younger generation, they will do the same thing for their younger generation when they grow up.’’
The Leamington Community Garden is his pride and joy. People are assigned plots in which to grow their vegetables and extra produce is distributed among the needy. ‘‘This was my plan for years . . . it’s about giving people plots where they are welcome to grow vegetables and helping people in need.’’
The present garden occupies about 800 square metres in Wordsworth St – land donated by the Waipa District Council.
The garden also has an organic section, looked after by Joe Carter, while Bob Perrin has recently come on board to grow vegetables in two different plots.
Mr Teepa maintains the plots with a rotary hoe. He has no plans to slow down and is looking for more ways to help.
He also recently took up bus driving – he loves driving people to different places. ‘‘I just want to help the community in ways I know how to. That kind of care for people is, to me, what makes a community special.’’