A shelter installed by a local kitset assembly business is being hailed a gamechanger for a Tauranga children’s therapy garden at the Historic Village.

The shelter – a pre-Covid gift from Good Neighbour that’s been in storage for more than four years – was recently installed at the therapy garden by two Tauranga franchisee holders of Kitset Assembly Services.

Jess Hubbard and Jo Easterby, who lead Your Garden: Children’s Therapy Garden, say they’ve had to cancel sessions on rainy days in the four years they’ve run the programme. “So the shelter is a gamechanger for us, especially during winter terms.”

The duo run the garden via volunteers, charity and koha.

“We provide the garden to local primary schools for their neurodivergent tamariki (children) to develop key skills which are needed to be a good classroom learner. The lack of these skills often leads to a cycle of failure at school.

“We mainly work with primary children that are neurodivergent and receive no regular funding from learning support, and who struggle to be successful in a modern classroom.”

The shelter was disassembled from Good Neighbour’s Welcome Bay site four years ago by Toi Ohomai students who’d erected it for that charity as part of their building studies.

“For a variety of reasons, four years later the shelter was still in pieces at the polytech,” says Jess.

“The biggest reason has been getting the right help, as tutors have changed there. The tutor who originally led the project, Dirk de Vires, kept the shelter pieces safe for these four years, despite now being semi-retired.”

Jess approached building firms for help but none were unwilling to sponsor the half-day build required to re-erect the shelter.

Enter Nick Pidgeon and Dave Behrent – two Tauranga franchisee holders from Kitset Assembly Services who offered to help free of charge.

Nick says the garden is hugely underutilised.

“My wife and I visited the historic village and sat in the garden for a while,” says Nick. “It was slightly overgrown and there were a few posts sticking out of the ground. Very tongue in cheek, I left a business card on the picnic table and a couple of days later got a phone call from Jess.”

Meeting Jess and hearing her enthusiasm around Your Garden, Nick says it was difficult not to be sold on the idea of helping.

“It’s a great project, so giving time back to support the community seemed a ‘no brainer’.

“The shelter was previously a structure in a community garden. We’re just putting it back together in a different location. The support posts had already been put in place, so it’s really just a case of fixing the roof and wall in place,” says Nick.

“It will hugely benefit the work being done by Your Garden as now the children will have somewhere to protect them against the elements meaning less classes have to be cancelled.”

Dave found out about the project from Nick.

“Once I talked to Jess and found out what her and Jo do for neurodiverse children, it was a pleasure to get behind them and support them in this way as they struggle to get funding and it’s great to be able to support people who do this kind of work.

“So far, we’ve done the one Saturday building a pergola shelter roof structure on the poles that had been put in already and we are coming back to put the roofing coloursteel on top.”

Dave is involved in volunteering via Welcome Bay Baptist Church.

“I find I’m always encouraged to help people in the community, so it was great to be able to help Jess and Jo from Your Garden and see the great work they do and meet others who were helping to.

“I think the kids and teachers and carers will greatly appreciate the shelter on those rainy days.”

Jess says the project is ongoing thanks to the help of volunteers like Nick and Dave. Next, they plan to attach a removable side to the shelter and have started a Givealittle page for fundraising. To donate, see: https://tinyurl.com/ysaaps9f.