A new base will be built for Te Ora Hou Whanganui next year, kaihautu/manager Judy Kumeroa says. Photo / Bevan Conley
A new base will be built for Te Ora Hou Whanganui next year, kaihautu/manager Judy Kumeroa says. Photo / Bevan Conley
A Whanganui community group that's focused on youth wellbeing is to have a new million-dollar, two-storey base on its Totara St section.
Te Ora Hou is a kaupapa Māori, faith-based group. It managed to buy its small 32 Totara St section in August last year, and then applied for fundingto replace the "cottage" it had been working from.
It applied to the Whanganui Community Foundation first, kaihautu/manager Judy Kumeroa said, and was given $300,000. Grants of $100,000 from the Four Regions Trust and $200,000 from the Department of Internal Affairs quickly followed.
Added to its own savings of $376,000, there is nearly enough for the build. A Givealittlepage has been set up for the remaining $74,000 - and Kumeroa is confident it will arrive.
In the meantime, Te Ora Hou's Totara St building has been demolished, and the Anglican Parish of Whanganui offered it the rental of St Luke's Anglican Church in Mānuka St as a substitute HQ.
The church doesn't hold services now, but it hosts a Friendship Lunch and two prayer groups every week. Te Ora Hou has been at the Manuka St location since December.
The space available is much bigger than Te Ora Hou's former cottage, Kumeroa said.
Next, building consent has to be obtained for the new building in Totara St, and the section has to be excavated and backfilled.
The former Te Ora Hou office has been demolished. Photo / Bevan Conley
The new build will have a community room and kitchen that can be shared. The rest will be offices and mentoring spaces.
Its location opposite Tawhero and St Marcellin schools is handy when outdoor space is needed. And it's right in the middle of the area Te Ora Hou serves.
"It's really central to what we do and who we do it with," Kumeroa said.
The builder will be Versatile Homes & Buildings, and work will begin in 2021.
Te Ora Hou mentors about 90 young people, Kumeroa said. It also runs clubs for them and prepares them to get driver licences.
Its focus has broadened to include families and the community. Te Ora Hou's 15 staff and nine volunteers hold Stone Soup gatherings, to share food and make connections.
During the Covid-19 lockdown the activities moved online and on to telephones.
