Written by Georgia McCrory-Bowick and Chani Grieve
Kia ora e te whānau,
Happy New Year!
This Kumanu is reporting on November and December 2024, as we all took a break over the Christmas holidays.
The Board of Trustees continues to work away in the background supporting the functioning of the centre, ticking off tasks and responding to things as they emerge.
Georgia was able to come up from Christchurch for our December meeting, so we were all able to be in the same physical space together in Bellbird. There continues to be a sense of tremendous goodwill, openness, honesty and support between us, and as a new Board we feel like we might just be starting to get the hang of it!
Recent Minutes and reports
BoT meeting minutes, and the most recent Centre Caretaker, Office, Communications, Programmes, Maintenance Sub-Committee and Treasurer’s reports are all available to be read and Can all be found in this folder.
What’s been happening
New Caretakers
We are delighted to have appointed Kaya Edgington and Ethan Mills as our Centre Caretaker and Land Caretaker respectively. They have both been offered 6-month contracts initially.
Kaya has been onsite since the end of December, and has been getting up to speed with the help of our outgoing Centre Caretaker Tracy. Ethan will be arriving at the end of January, and Chris Petzold has kindly offered to provide support to Ethan in his role.
We will take time to properly introduce both Kaya and Ethan to the community once they are both together onsite.
New Track to Omahu :
Aspect Forestry, along with the generous help of Ray Caird, have successfully completed the track to Omahu, and under budget! This left enough funds to upgrade the road up to Wangapeka, and the last of the slip was cleared from the Driveway. A beautiful Blessing for the Land was held in early December to energetically pave the way for this project, and all has proceeded smoothly since. Check out the photo below for a view from the new track.
Pig Updates :
A pig drive was held in early December. The large sows have migrated uphill in a seasonal shift. There are still sightings of young pigs within the fence line. An additional heavier strand has been added to the pig fence full perimeter, and additional work continues to upgrade and maintain the fence.
Retreat Guru :
This year we will be implementing Retreat Guru, a software package designed to improve Wangapeka’s Office function, by streamlining a lot of our event management and registration processes. Thanks to Shea Dawson, Mira Riddiford and Brooke Walker for their work in getting this set up. We envisage that, in time, this new system is going to save Brooke a lot of work, and hopefully give Graham Sandlant the opportunity to “retire” from Comms!
A new iteration of Service as the Path :
In December, a community hui was held at Wangapeka with the core SAP team (Kath, Mark, Georgia and Dan) and other interested community members. A weekend of conversation and exploration was had to move forward with the continuing vision of having a practicing community onsite at Wangapeka. This evolving experiment is set to continue in 2025, and we will have further updates in due course.
Chipping away behind the scenes :
Although seemingly “uninteresting” to many, there is always a huge amount of important work going on behind the scenes, keeping Maree well occupied in the financial arena, Michael McKinnon supporting us with Health and Safety oversight, and Louise Petzold and others beavering away on Policy and Procedure updates, including currently improving our volunteer recruitment policies and processes.
Thank you!
The Wangapeka continues through the tremendous generosity of so many beings. If you are keen to support this oasis of sanity to be available for beings both now and into the future, by offering to support the Board, or join a sub-committee, or in any other way, please contact us at board@wangapeka.org There is always much needing attention, and we will always find a good use for your skills and energy!
Our next BoT meetings are scheduled for:
Friday 14 Feb at Wangapeka
Thurs 27 Feb (online)
Sat 15 March
Thurs 27 March (online)
May all beings be well and happy. May all beings be free.
Contact Details
Board Of Trustees
| Name | Role | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Maree Murray | Treasurer | treasurer@wangapeka.org |
| Louise Petzold | Coordinator | coordinator@wangapeka.org |
| Graham Price | Secretary | secretary@wangapeka.org |
| Georgia McCrory-Bowick | georgia@wangapeka.org | |
| Chani Grieve | assistantcoordinator@ |
Caretaking team
| Name | Role | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Kaya Edgington | Centre Caretaker | centrecaretaker@wangapeka.org |
| Brooke Walker | Office Caretaker | info@wangapeka.org |
| Ethan Mills | Land Caretaker | coming soon….. |