He aroha whakatō, he aroha puta mai.
If kindness is sown, then kindness you shall receive.
A very happy New Year to all our tenants; may 2023 be filled with happiness, kindness, peace and wellbeing. All the Haumaru team is looking forward to another busy year and we’re planning many exciting programmes and services for tenants’ participation. We’ll be working on our new, five-year strategic plan and will be looking for some tenant input as part of the planning process. We’re also keen to get some cultural advisory groups up and running and to grow more community connections within local neighbourhoods. You’ll receive more information in due course about these groups and how to participate.
One project we’re looking to complete early in the year will be the compilation and publication of the Haumaru cookbook (see our ‘final call’ for recipes in this edition). We also have the construction of a new 52-unit apartment building scheduled to start in Northcote, as well as several bigger village renovations (tenants will be informed well in advance of any works commencing). The digital literacy classes will be continuing, as tenants found them so valuable last year, and our tenancy inspections are due to get underway in March as well as further garden maintenance.
Please do keep sending all your suggestions and compliments to the Service Desk. Our quality team reviews each one of these and takes any action that might be required (where this may not be possible, we’ll ensure that feedback is always provided).
I very much enjoyed meeting many tenants at the wonderful village Christmas gatherings I attended and hope to connect with many more of our villagers in the coming year.
Until then, ngā mihi.
Gillian Schweizer,
Chief Executive Officer
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Tenants celebrate ‘significant’ birthdays
Happy birthday to all our tenants who’ve celebrated ‘significant’ birthdays in recent months. Ailsa Faber of Sunnynook’s Cockayne Court enjoyed a surprise party for her 90th on 29 December, organised by her friends in the village. A tenant since 2004, Ailsa knows all her neighbours’ dates of birth and always makes time to call them up and wish them happy birthday. Her friends were only too happy to show their appreciation when her special day came around, too.
On 11 January, Margaret Quick of Takapuna’s Peggy Phillips’ Village was also treated to a surprise party for her 95th, organised by her daughter Joan and family. Margaret’s been a tenant for 25 years and was delighted when Joan also moved into the village five years ago. Joan lives only four doors down and they’ve been a wonderful support for each other ever since.
Popular tenant Jack Howard of Beach Haven’s Lancaster Court marked his 80th birthday on 29 November. With his great personality and loved by everyone, Jack’s always busy during the week but never misses his Saturday get-togethers with his friends at Lancaster. Jack celebrated his special day with family up North.
Happy birthday, all, from everyone at Haumaru.
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Christmas lunches past
Christmas may seem a long time ago now, but we still have fond memories of the lovely shared lunches that were held around the villages to celebrate the festive season.
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Be on the look-out for pest plants
To all our avid gardeners, please let us know if you spot any of the following pest plants in your garden or around any of the communal lawn areas. If you suspect a noxious weed might be establishing itself, please report it to our Service Desk. We’ll then carry out an inspection and have it removed and properly disposed of before it can take hold and cause damage to our native plants.
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Spotlight on…. Dee Pioiva
Welcome to Dee Pioiva who’s recently joined the Haumaru Housing Service Desk team. Dee has a wide range of experience in various sectors, both at home and overseas. Prior to joining Haumaru, he was a Programme Coordinator for the Ministry of Social Development, where he was responsible for identifying, promoting and monitoring contracted and community programmes to ensure clients could access the training courses they needed to upskill and enhance their ability to secure sustainable employment. When not in the office, Dee enjoys pursuing his many interests, top of which include spending quality time with family and friends, cooking, trying different cuisines and blogging about food, and enjoying the Kiwi lifestyle and our amazing scenery. Welcome to the team, Dee!
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Health & Safety ‘Do’s & Don’ts’
If you have a tenant welfare concern - for example, if you haven’t seen your neighbour out and about for some time, or you’re concerned about a neighbour’s welfare - we encourage you to call the Service Desk to make us aware. Please advise us of the nature of your concern and provide as many details as possible. It’s always better to be on the safe side, so do give us a ring to put your mind at ease.
Tenants are requested not to remove or dismantle their smoke detectors, but to call our Service Desk for help if a unit isn’t working properly. It’s a requirement of your tenancy that you have an operating smoke detector, so please let us know if there’s a problem at any time rather than attempting to fix it yourself.
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Final call for your favourite recipes
With all the busyness of the Christmas season and summer holidays, we’ve extended the deadline for tenants to submit their recipes and artwork for our Haumaru Housing cookbook. If you’ve a favourite recipe you’d like to share with everyone, please write it down for us (or print it out) and post in the Haumaru Housing letterbox. Do include your name and village, so we can acknowledge your contribution. Similarly, if you’re an artist and would like to be involved in helping to illustrate our cookbook, please do let your Community Manager know.
The absolute final deadline for submitting recipes and visual imagery is fast approaching, so please send us your favourites just as soon as you can.
