Seniors enjoy some music inside The Lusk Centre last year, which has since been closed and sold. Photo / Warren Buckland
Seniors enjoy some music inside The Lusk Centre last year, which has since been closed and sold. Photo / Warren Buckland
A pillar of the Havelock North community, The Lusk Centre, has sold and the money donated to charity to continue supporting the elderly.
The donation of $1.35 million is the largest donation made to local charity the Hawke's Bay Foundation, which has established the Sally Lusk Fund with the money.
The late Sally Lusk bought a property on Te Aute Rd in Havelock North in 1991 while aged in her 80s, which was used for almost 30 years as a community facility for seniors and the elderly.
Her vision for the building was for elderly living alone to have a place to come and enjoy a singalong, friendship and companionship.
It became known as The Lusk Centre and later Sally's Place.
Enliven stopped operating services in the building last year, and a decision was made by the AFB Lusk Club Home Trust to sell the property and donate the money to Hawke's Bay Foundation.
The late Sally Lusk. Photo / NZME
The property sold for $1.35 million in September last year some three decades after it was purchased by Lusk in 1991, for $118,000, according to the property history.
"We chose Hawke's Bay Foundation because we wanted to ensure the fund wouldn't be misused or whittled away, but rather protected and grown for perpetuity for the benefit of the whole of Hawke's Bay," Laura Bakker, the AFB Lusk Club Home Trust treasurer, said.
"This way, the money will continue to produce an income forever for the benefit of the aged care sector, just as Sally would have wanted. There's longevity in that."
Lusk was born in the US and later moved to India to become a teacher and missionary.
She met her husband Alan Lusk in India and eventually moved to New Zealand and lived in Arrowtown - where she served as a town councillor for a time - then relocated to Hawke's Bay. She died in 1999.
Her daughter Marilyn Lusk said her siblings were happy and proud to see the donation create a permanent fund.
"Our mother was an amazing person with high energy levels and steely determination, once she'd set her heart on something.
"It was her involvement in the local Age Concern group that led to her purchasing the Te Aute Rd property and establishing the Trust."
Hawke's Bay Foundation executive officer Amy Bowkett said the new fund would continue Lusk's original vision.
It will be part of an annual distribution to local groups and charities and you can apply for funding through Hawke's Bay Foundation.
"We are so pleased to continue Sally's legacy by working with the many worthy groups right here as she would have wanted," she said.
"Sally's mission was to encourage the senior population of Hawke's Bay to remain social and active.
