Entry forms are available now at The Pod and Diacks Nursery. Of course we have a category for the most famous spring flower, the daffodil, but we are also taking entries for various cut flowers and vegetables too. We have a new category this year for your homemade preserves like jams, jellies, pickles and chutneys. There are also some categories for children including sand saucers, and creations made of recycled materials. We will be having a school holiday workshop on Friday 4 October to help kids work on their entries too.

The Flower Show is free to enter, and you just need to drop your entry to South Alive on Friday 4 October between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. So let’s celebrate the green fingers of South Invercargill residents and the start of the Spring season!

About 118 solar panels will soon cover the whole roof of South Alive after the community hub received a grant from the Murihiku Rūnaka and Rio Tinto/NZAS Community Development Fund. 

The panels are a great addition to our hub and will align with our strong focus on sustainability and help us minimise our environmental footprint while also reducing our ongoing operating costs. The solar system would have significant environment benefits — it is equivalent to 1249 trees planted a year.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE – A national Dovetail evaluation commissioned by the Department of Internal Affairs was recently completed for South Alive. A few of our volunteers were interviewed and here is what they had to say about their experience volunteering with us…

VOLUNTEER UPDATE – PAY IT FORWARD
Our Pay it Forward initiative is all about connecting those who have something to offer with those that could do with some support, through Pay it Forward food boxes and knitted goods. Our team of knitters create a range of blankets, beanies and singlets for babies, gifting these to those in need in our community through the local hospital. The group meet weekly at The Pod, and connect through vibrant laughter and their love of knitting. Our Pay it Forward food boxes provide essentials that will help a person or family from our community in serious hardship. We work with local schools to identify those in need, and the boxes are funded through generous donations from the community.
   

WOOL WOOL WOOL – Do you have any spare 100% wool (we cant use acrylic) to donate? These amazing ladies below (a few missing) are called South Alive Team Knitwitz. Every Thursday morning they donate their time and energy to knitting baby items for the neonatal and childrens ward at Kew Hospital and are running out of wool. If you have wool to donate then please drop this off to The Pantry Invercargill – 133 Grace Street, Appleby, Invercargill.

Here’s some fun FREE events for the whānau, taking place in the October School Holidays at South Alive. No registration needed, just turn up and be part of the exciting activities! Parental Supervision is a must. Check out the individual events on our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/SouthAlive/

Tēnā koe, Kōanga (spring) is here!

Fostering relationships with the ākonga in our Community is so important to us here at South Alive.
Over the last few weeks we have had visits from Aurora College, Southland Boys High and Southland Girls High Rangatahi.

In this space we’ve been able to pass on knowledge and skills around growing their own kai, we’ve shown them where our local orchards are located to forage from with their whānau, and allowed them the leadership roles, to be the kaitiaki of their community. Massive thank you to all the individuals involved in this kaupapa.

I have been fortunate enough over the last few months to sit with kaimahi who are part of the Youth Sector across Aotearoa, NZ. We’ve shared some great kōrero around what their support for Rangatahi looks like, how it can be accessed and their passion in this space, and turned it into a Podcast! https://open.spotify.com/show/4vQoTpuK7sVLm2nmuhuPZO
 
If you would like to contact Stacey directly for any of the material shared within these episodes, please email: stacey@southalive.org.nz

          
We are taking entries for our third Rangatahi Art Exhibition, this one ties into the Arts Murihiku Art trail. Which means the work on display will be seen by the public who are following the maps of the trail. If you are a young person or know of a young person that loves to paint, take photos, make art of any material and would like to showcase this – pop in and see me at The Pod before September 30^th to have this installed! You can also send digital files or photographs to my email and I will print and frame these before installing – stacey@southalive.org.nz

Have a wonderful Mahuru (September) 
Hei kona mai
Stacey – Rangatahi Lead