Hinemoa Lind sits out front of Te Aroha Noa Community Services in Palmerston North. Photo / Sonya Holm
Based in the heart of Highbury a community organisation’s footprint stretches down the road.
Te Aroha Noa Community Services was “birthed” from Central Baptist Church, and for 34 years has delivered services developed from listening, and giving back, to the community.
Aroha means love.
“In te ao Māori there’s tapu and there’s noa,” education and operations leader Hinemoa Lind says.
“Tapu is sacred, noa is neutral. Noa speaks about this space being open to whoever, whenever, always.”
On the day of my visit, they are painting their footprint out front so people can see what they do inside.
By the main entrance is tino rangatiratanga (the Māori flag) with sections on either side for their six services.
“The blue part the kids painted, that’s early childhood. The first orange part, our men’s group Tū Hāpainga painted,” Lind says.
The colourful sections to be added are the rangatahi programme, the whānau development team, the counselling team and the young parenting programme.
With a focus on whānau with children, Te Aroha Noa runs programmes covering the whole gamut of life skills including parenting, budgeting and renting.
The early childhood centre is for 3- to 5-year-olds with nine staff for the 45 enrolled children. Food is provided, and a social worker works alongside teachers and whānau.
The rangatahi programme is for 13- to 17-year-olds who are disenfranchised and disengaged from mainstream schooling.
“Our goal is to have them two years,” Lind says. It’s NCEA accredited, providing education plus wellbeing support and has close links with Land Based Training.
However, the organisation is more expansive than its long list of services.
There is a māra kai (food garden), Māori healing clinics are provided for ACC clients, and there is an on-site dentist.
“We had the Health Hub too, but during Covid they had to downsize and move back to their main hub,” Lind says.
On Fridays, Kāinga Ora and the Ministry of Social Development are on-site, available for pre-booked half-hour appointments.
“It’s an opportunity for our tangata whaiora [a person seeking health] to come through and talk about stuff that’s concerning them,” Lind says.
Free community events are held in Farnham Reserve across the road, to save families having to travel into town.
Te Aroha Noa has about 40 staff plus volunteers.
Its biggest funders are Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Education, plus they apply for grants from councils and trusts.
In the last financial year, the counselling service supported 124 clients, the whānau development team 125, and the rangatahi programme 30, despite the latter being contracted for only three.
Lind says her figures are “the actuals”, those fully engaged.
“We have clients come in off the street all the time … but I focus on the actuals. People who stayed, who wanted the help.”
Lind says they provide a wraparound service, focused on mana-enhancing practice.
“I’m not coming in and telling you how to be the expert in your life. I am coming in for you to stand on, you know, I’m here to uplift you.”
The centre has expanded over the years and, in creating a space for the community, it has a distinct energy and strength.
In addition to the fruit trees, native trees and cherry blossoms on the grounds of the childcare centre, the central gathering space is warm and inviting, with circled couches nestling in the glow of the stained glass window.
Lind says something about the space brings people back. She relays a comment from a colleague that “Te Aroha Noa is a place of healing. Once you’re healed, you fly.”
This profile of a Te Pū Harakeke - Community Collective Manawatū member organisation is part of an occasional series.
Sonya Holm is a freelance journalist based in Palmerston North.