A former fire station, a donation of $30,000, community spirit and second-hand gym equipment have combined to make a real asset for Ratana Pa.
The settlement's gym had given the community a shot in the arm since it opened on April 17, resident social worker Geoff Hipango said.
When the Chronicle called in, Audrey Williams was walking on a treadmill and three young women were exercising on Swiss balls.
"People just come in and do their thing. That's what we wanted to see," Mr Hipango said.
Mr Hipango, whose position is funded by Ngati Apa's Te Kotuku Hauora o Rangitikei, said the $30,000 for the project came from Whanganui District Health Board's Healthy Eating Healthy Action initiative at the end of January.
Members of the Ratana Maramatanga Sports Club and others set to work to refurbish the building.
Forty-five of Marton's 115 families now have paid up one-year memberships that cost them $30 each.
The gym is central and open six days a week, from 8am to 8pm.
It could now be extended, and there are plans to build raised beds and put in a community vegetable garden in the open space alongside.
There were other developments afoot at Ratana as well, Mr Hipango said.
Repairs and insulation to its 100-odd houses were likely to happen soon, perhaps followed by a 50 to 60 lot subdivision that has been talked of for at least 20 years.
Drilling had found enough water for the additional households, but its quality had yet to be tested. An ICT hub of six computers is also planned, using Government funding accessed through Rangitikei District Council. It may be housed in the former post office and open in late July. The settlement would then share a 20-hour a week co-ordinator with another ICT hub in Marton.
A survey has shown only a third of Ratana's 115 households have access to a computer.
But its kaumatua were already well on the way to computer literacy, Mr Hipango said, through a course run by Marton private training establishment ICENZ.
"It's been a real joy to see them learning and participating in the digital age."
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