Busy community centre

DEANNA HARRIS

One woman's idea to connect residents to essential services has brought a Whangarei seaside community together.

In 2008 Lois Slattery looked at the building next to the Onerahi Hall and thought it would be the perfect place for a community centre.

"I moved here 30 years ago from America and I am so grateful that I was given residency that I wanted to give something back," says Mrs Slattery.

The Onerahi Community Centre opened early last year under the wing of the Onerahi Community Association. It is establishing itself as a safe and accessible source of help and information for people in the harbourside Whangarei suburb.

The centre’s main focus is connecting people with the right service to match their need, whether it is legal advice, budgeting help or counselling.

"I am not a counsellor. I do not give advice but I put people in contact with those who can help them," says Mrs Slattery, who runs the community centre as a volunteer.

The centre also organises fun, free events. This month an
Onerahi Whanau Day has been organised at Sherwood Park, from 10am to 2pm on February 20, with games, stalls and a hangi.

The centre also hosts free monthly group meetings for
arthritis and diabetes sufferers plus free te reo classes and a law clinic once a week.

Mrs Slattery says some great ideas have come from people asking questions and suggesting what they think the community needs.

One idea is to establish a Civil Defence plan for Onerahi so the community knows what to do in an emergency.

Another need that has been identified is a computer centre similar to SeniorNet.

Mrs Slattery says there are many plans for the centre including establishing it as a trust separate from the Onerahi Community Association.

She says both organisations play an important part in the community but the centre has a different aim than the association.

Over the next year the number of people seeking assistance from the community centre is estimated to double.

"I don’t see us coming out of the recession but going into a depression," says Mrs Slattery.

The main assistance Mrs Slattery says people are seeking is for budgeting advice and food.

The Onerahi Community Centre is open Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 3pm.

For more information phone 436-3203 or 027-742-94-315.

- © Fairfax NZ News