Paihia – 2015 Community of the Year - Celebrations   3 Mar 2015

Paihia – 2015 Community of the Year - Celebrations

The Paihia community is set to celebrate with winning the Mitre 10 Community of the Year, announced at the 2015 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards in Auckland on the 25th February.

“This is a tremendous achievement and we are very proud and humbled by this accolade for our Paihia community” said Focus Paihia Chair, Grant Harnish.

The Award acknowledges the large number of diverse community organisations, volunteers and effort that is ongoing into Paihia’s drive to become an exceptional place to live, work and visit. “It reinforces and celebrates what can be achieved when a community takes responsibility for its destiny and the difference you can make - quite a powerful story really” said Grant.

The nomination included the wider communities of Opua, Haruru Falls and Waitangi and outlined a wide range of activities, including recent initiatives and events, community volunteer organisations and clubs. “To give you an idea of the scope of great works, just in the 'Highlighted Organisations' section were the following... Cruise Ship Committee, Waitangi Golf Club, Bay of Islands Rotary Club, Paihia Community Patrol, Bay Bush Action Trust, Fish Forever, Business Paihia Inc, Friends of Williams House, Paihia Op Shop, Bay of Islands Yacht Club, Paihia Fire Brigade, Paihia St John's Ambulance, Bay of Islands Special Olympics and the Paihia Branch of the Motel Association of New Zealand” said Tiffany Holland, one of the authors of the document.

Along with a big boost of encouragement and building momentum, the Award provides a platform to progress the vision for Paihia. Sarah Greener, Focus Paihia Treasurer, said “we are now visible on a national scale which will hopefully allow access to more decision makers to help move our varied projects forward…and probably develop a few more along the way.”

The town is keen to share it’s learnings and help create similar sea change in other Far North towns first and then maybe throughout New Zealand. “It’s about reducing this Zombie town effect people are talking about. These places are peoples homes and should be celebrated and developed not lost” said Sarah. We want to see more communities taking back ownership of their towns and growing the active participants in improving their quality of life… not just sitting back and waiting for someone else to do it for them”.

The philosophy is around supporting communities to have a hand up rather than a hand out. “We want to advocate driving community development by residents not by council or government” said Sarah. “Both of these bodies should be seen as a support networks to communities not an impediment. By working together we can be more sustainable through making changes that create more liveable communities, with less cost through community empowerment and activity”.

“And the personal rewards are both satisfying and fulfilling“ said Grant. “I have loved being involved and seeing our community coming together, strengthening and the place is looking and feeling so much better. It’s just fantastic”.

So whats next? A community celebration of course, to be held on Horotutu – Our Place on Saturday 7 March, commencing at 5pm. People are encouraged to bring a plate of food to share.

The Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year/Mitre 10 Community of the Year Award is for all of Paihia – a special night to celebrate.

ENDS

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