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Catlins School Students Look After Their Community

Nicola Law Clutha News, Local News

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Photo: Lauren Grant (17), Casey Osborne (15) Korban Craigie (14)

By Nicola Law

Balclutha Motors APPS 21.7.20 2

The Catlins Area School’s Community Pantry continues to help the community after it was started after last year’s lockdown. 

The idea for the pantry came about from an inquiry question as part of a school project: ‘In a post-pandemic New Zealand, how can we ensure Owaka thrives?‘ Staff, local curriculum education partners and students came together in a planning session after lockdown to come up with ideas to answer the question. They looked at the physical environment, enviro-tourism, community, place, people and who are we within our community.

Over 100 ideas came out of the planning session including: creating a community pantry, developing a historical walk around Owaka and creating materials to educate freedom campers about caring for our natural environment. Students Lauren Grant, Casey Osborne, and Korban Craigie pitched the ideas to the Board of Trustees with intent to secure funding for some of the more expensive ideas.

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Pitching to the Board of Trustees

The green light was given to Te Paataka Owaka, The Community Pantry, and it was the first idea to be implemented with it being up and running within a few days of being given the go ahead. The reason the pantry was set up so quickly was because the students like the idea of the immediate positive effect it could have on the community. 

A group of students led the project and a fridge was donated by a school staff member. The fridge was stocked with food and put at the top of the school driveway ready to be used by the community.  The students also sent out a survey to locals to ask about what they would like to see in the fridge.

The philosophy behind The Community Pantry is ‘take what you need, give what you can.’

The students said,

“We want the community to continue to use it, to take what they need, if you need it you need it and if you can give back to it that is great too. It has been cool to see people using this idea in our community and would be great to see more community pantries set up in other towns.”

The pantry has been kept topped up by the local including a big delivery of vegetables just before Christmas. School mufti days where students bring along non-perishable foods have also helped keep The Community Pantry stocked regularly. 

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The school and students want to make sure that the pantry continues to be used by locals this year. It is important to them that the food is used by locals and not by those that are passing through. 

With over 100 ideas in the pipeline, The Catlins Area School are working on a sustainable plan to integrate many more of the projects into their school day and to bring them to fruition to help the school and community not only to survive, but thrive.

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