Mob pitching in with labour of love

Larry Potae is one of the Mongrel Mob's Notorious chapter members helping out at the Awhi Early Childhood Centre in Otara. Picture / Martin Sykes

Mongrel Mob members have become volunteer construction workers for a new South Auckland preschool.

Up to 20 members of the Mob's "Notorious" chapter have provided hundreds of hours of voluntary labour for the Awhi Whanau early childhood centre, which will be dedicated in Otara today.

Yesterday four of them were finishing the landscaping. They have also helped to build and paint the centre and created carvings that will be unveiled at the dedication.

"Bones", who joined the Mob at 21 and is now 46 with two young daughters, said the gang was helping Sam Chapman, the head of the Christian-based Houhanga Rongo Trust which has worked with gangs for more than 20 years. Mr Chapman's wife, Thelma, an experienced teacher, will manage the centre.

"We are just helping Sam because he's helped us over these last years we have been with him. It's for the kids, for our kids," Bones said.

Mr Chapman said the turnaround was thanks to "a whole lot of hope and unconditional acceptance and love".

He could not say the Mob would forswear crime forever, but it had changed its focus.

"We are not doing this to keep out of jail. We are doing this because they love their kids and love their families. If they keep doing that, jail and all of that will fall off."

Larry Potae, a 49-year-old granddad to eight, still wore his Mongrel Mob patch as he worked on the centre's grounds yesterday.

Bones wore a bright yellow jacket of the Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust, another Christian-based trust which the Mobsters are helping to clear of graffiti in Manurewa. He said the Mob had had "heaps of offers" of work for its "Rent a Bro" business since it was launched last year, but was still creating the legal infrastructure to let it take up such work.

Mrs Chapman said the Awhi Whanau preschool still needed about $100,000 to complete its plans. Sponsors are also needed to reduce the costs for parents, who face a fee of $150 a week.

* Awhi Whanau dedication, corner East Tamaki Rd and Hills Rd, 2pm today, (09) 274 4430.