Vision Motueka planning community Christmas dinner

April 19th, 2013
[by David Armstrong]

Community development group Vision Motueka celebrated its first birthday last night with a big tick beside a set of projects now up and running, and the addition of another new community project.

The group now has an email support list of over 60 people, monthly meeting attendance of around 15, and a committee fully active very active working in collaboration with other community groups.

Before getting stuck into a celebratory supper last night, the committee agreed to help with a Community Christmas Dinner event which was proposed by Rankeilor Arnott representing St Andrews Uniting Church.

An organising team comprising Rankeilor's colleagues and several Vision Motueka members will further research similar Christmas Day community meals around the country, and plan a local version to be held in Memorial Hall.

Initial estimates suggest 150 people would be a reasonable number to cater for. People who will be encouraged to attend will be families struggling financially, sole parents, people living alone, senior citizens without families around and seasonal workers.

Rankeilor is asking anyone interested in contributing to this occasion, in planning or volunteering on the day, to contact her at , Rev Peter Norman () or Marlene Ricketts ().

Vision Motueka also heard a presentation by Petra Stephenson promoting a time banking concept for Motueka aimed at better valuing voluntary workers and volunteerism in general. The committee decided to encourage Petra to further develop the concept and leadership team with the collaborative assistance of some Vision Motueka members.

Surveying the progress of Vision Motueka over its first year, the committee were pleased to tick work on the following projects:

The Hub Concept - its proposal for a Motueka hub and a new library has been accepted by the community board and taken seriously by Tasman District Council, and is being talked about within our community.
Motueka Murals - a well-research plan for a series of nine murals has been developed, funding has been obtained, and the first mural is about to be painted.
Children's Day - this set of events was successfully run in March and a platform built for improving and enlarging the occasion next year.
Motueka Music Network - planning for a comprehensive web-based platform to build and connect the Motueka music scene is well advanced and the website should be ready for use around July.
Motueka Photo Library - a digital library of over 150 high-quality photos taken by local photographers of scenes in and around Motueka is being built, and is being used as a town promotion in various venues.
Volunteer Awards - the first of hopefully an annual event is being planned for October, when representatives of all voluntary community groups will be invited to an afternoon tea and nominated volunteers will receive scrolls of appreciation.
Community Group resources - "how-to" documents have been prepared and published which are available for community group leaders to help them with their standard responsibilities including how to apply for grants.

Anyone interested in the work of Vision Motueka is welcome to attend meetings, which are held on the third Thursday of the month from 7pm at Community House. Or they can receive emailed updates of project progress, by contacting its chairman .

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