Day 155 - Social Sector NGO Conference

Spent the day in yet another conference in the forlorn hope that I might find some people to work with to help Addington residents. Just another talkfest. They are not bad people, just incapable of doing anything practical or having a sense of urgency.

That was the last conference for me for quite a while.

Day 154 - laminating is such fun

For the last week, 800 A4 posters have been put through a home office laminator.

One by one in little pockets!

After 600 you get really fast at it. By 800 I reckon you deserve a unit standard, though coffee sounds a hell of a lot better.

Day 153 - refocus on Addington

Tonight's monthly committee meeting of Addington Action decided to refocus efforts on a smaller geographical area.

In future, assistance will only be provided to residents who live in a street that is represented on the committee.

This decision was made because of the growing numbers of people who need help where there is a basic lack of human and material resources to provide that help.

This decision applies to;

• Food parcel delivery
• Uninsured homes that will be repaired
• Passing on names of people who want to see a social worker.

So if you live on a street that is not covered, you need to get together with your neighbours and choose someone who will be active on the committee.

Inactive committee members have been culled. So it's fewer but better!

Day 152 - roofs leaking under snow

The recent snow storm has played havoc with many roofs that had been patched using temporary repairs.

The thick carpet of snow on roofs has been able to leak under roof patches that are just glued, riveted, or covered in tarps. This has created more water damage to homes.

Day 151 - the icing on the Quake

Addington Action will be distributing gas heaters with full bottles over the next few weeks. A batch of orders to the NZ Baptist Church has just been sent off.

Thanks Marty B for repeating "the icing on the Quake" - cos I didn't think of it but it's a cool description.

Stay warm.

Day 150 - repair schedule published

Preparations are now underway with only 14 days left till repairs start on the uninsured homes of elderly residents.

• Subcommitte has been established to organise weekly repairs
• Schedule published
• Depot setup for stockpiling materials
• Donation of 4WD vehicle to move tools and building materials
• Blue Poster asking for houses needing repairs
• Newspaper interviews to get volunteers
• Food to feed volunteers provided by 0800 Hungry

Lets hope the weather is warm and sunny!

Day 149 - online office established

Addington Action over time is putting all of it's files onto the web to make it accessible to those with computers. This will make it easier for shared editing and printing, since most people need printed information.

For example, Carol at the TEU can download any files needed for photocopying each week, and Lynette then simply picks them up, making better use of valuable volunteer time.

The same applies to the people who are organising training for volunteers, those organising the house repair schedule, and also those who are organising the establishment of home vege gardens.

About 1/3 of the committee members have access to the Internet, so now they can go and access stuff themselves directly from the web office 24/7. Supporters can also get access when ever they want.
http://www.office.addingtonaction.org.nz/

Some material is only available using a password because of privacy.

Day 148 - Addington Action News issue 1

Today and every Friday, a one page news sheet will be published that can be put up on noticeboards in shops, workplaces, schools, churches, pubs, public libraries, sports clubs and community centres.

Welcome to Addington Action News!

It will focus each week on something important for residents to do. Volunteers will print it on buff coloured paper and take it around each Friday to put up.

There is also a weekly mailing list by email and it can also be downloaded from here.

Download 116KB (PDF)

Day 147 - support for earthquake recovery work

The Spreydon Heathcote Community Board this week voted to give a grant of $1850 to support the earthquake recovery work of Addington Action.

The funds will be mainly used to help with two way communication with all residents in Addington to ensure their concerns and needs are dealt with quickly.

That's stuff like posters, a weekly news sheet for noticeboards, the Earthquake Recovery Resource Kit, and public meetings.

Day 146 - uninsured homes repair poster

And there is now a blue poster that offers free repairs to the uninsured homes of elderly residents. This poster will start going up on power poles all over Addington from Friday.

Repairs by volunteers start Saturday August 6 in Macaulay St Addington.

200 copies of this new poster were kindly photocopied by TEU.

Copies are available from Addington Action and can be downloaded from the web office

Day 145 - Vege garden poster

There is a green poster to promote vege gardens and this poster will start going up on power poles all over Addington from tomorrow.

200 copies of this new poster were photocopied by TEU and advertise a scheme by Christchurch South Community Gardens to provide a small free vege garden to homes to grow a crop for Christmas. The intent is to encourage people to start turning empty land into food production.

Copies are available from Addington Action and can be downloaded from the web office

Day 144 - a shared resource

The Earthquake Recovery Resource Kit developed by Addington Action is to be freely shared by multiple residents groups. The kit is an simple organising tool for street reps who help people in need due to the earthquakes. Some groups call these people "street captains".

The kit is frequently updated and added to, based on feedback from the street reps.

A web site has been set up so that one person from each group can download the latest master copies for printing, binding and distribution. It is anticipated that all groups will contribute to the development of the kit, and that customised material specific to a local area will also be held and made available. Ring binders will be purchased at bulk prices and will be made available at cost to groups

A talk and demonstration will be given to representatives of Christchurch residents groups at the CanCERN meeting tomorrow night.

The new web site uses Google Docs, part of Google Apps available from Google.

Day 143 - D Scene intervew

Yesterday was bit different. The morning was tied up with clearing out a double garage for storing building materials. Then the pet food arrived, and then an interview with a reporter, over hot soup.

Wilma popped in from D Scene, a newspaper published in Dunedin, to ask questions for an article she is writing about Sister Suburbs. The funniest part was getting some photos around Addington much to the amusement of neighbours.

Day 142 - pet food donation

Paw Justice have sent Addington Action a generous supply of donated bulk pet food. This will be used to supplement the existing food parcels provided by 0800 Hungry to hungry Addington Families.

Nice to be able to look after our furry little friends.

Day 141 - house repairs for uninsured elderly start Saturday August 6

Addington Action is a working committee made up of a resident from each street, workplace union delegates, church ministers and school principals. It meets monthly to co-ordinate activity and is evolving rapidly. Volunteers are co-ordinated by cell phone text messages.
www.addingtonaction.org.nz/p/about.html

Repairs to homes of elderly
Free house repairs for uninsured elderly start on Saturday August 6 at 9am in Macaulay St Addington. 2 houses will be fixed each week for 10 weeks, 1 day for each house. Contact Addington Action if you can help with the repair effort or you know of an elderly resident who needs this free help. Volunteer builders will be coming up from South Dunedin to help with Addington Mucking In.

Food parcels
0800 Hungry are supplying food parcels each Wednesday which are being distributed by Addington Action to hungry families in Addington - Spreydon - Hillmorton - Phillipstown. Christchurch City Mission has also supplied food which has helped with a very flexible response.

Blankets
The Baptist churches are supplying blankets which are being distributed to freezing families by Addington Action. Local depots are being established of stockpiled supplies for the street reps to distribute from. This way familes can be helped same day.

Workplaces
Food parcels are also being distributed via union delegates at Addington workplaces to the families of workers who have greatly reduced income due to the quake. This is expanding with other workplace delegates joining in. Other issues being dealt with include difficulties with WINZ, Red Cross grants, stress, etc

Posters
500 laminated posters were put the power poles of 100 streets so residents could easily get help and join in. 2 new kinds of posters will go up next week about the free vegetable garden project and the uninsured house repairs project.

Earthquake emergency house repairs
Everyone with a damaged home in Addington - Spreydon should contact Addington Action about arranging emergency repairs. A fast efficient system has been set up to refer people directly to the local EQR hub. It’s working really well.

Migrants
Community leaders from migrant communities are being actively approached to participate so that these communities don’t become isolated or get a hard time due to the unfolding social disaster.

Vegetable gardens
Christchurch South Community Gardens are providing free vegetable gardens at the homes of residents, that will grow a crop for Christmas. Contact Addington Action to go on the list.

Social agencies
Addington Action is working with an increasing number of existing agencies to assist people and avoid duplicating efforts. There is a lot of help out there that people can be referred to including Anglican Care, Footsteps, Aged Concern

Donations
Any donations are a great help. Please send them to Addington Action, PO Box 9000, Tower Junction, Christchurch. Addington Action is NOT a registered charity.

Street representatives
35 streets in Addington and Spreydon now have a community minded person as the point of contact for their neighbours to Addington Action.
www.addingtonaction.org.nz/p/streets.html

They need to keep an eye out for;

• Homes that need emergency repairs
• Is a family in your street going hungry
• People who want to help

Addington Action is able to offer more assistance to residents of streets that have a representative. Training is provided to each street rep as well as a free copy of the Earthquake Recovery Resource Kit which is a practical manual for organising help.

Contact Addington Action if you want to help or need help
www.addingtonaction.org.nz/p/contact.html

Thanks
Mike Peters
Organiser
Addington Action
980-0902
027-2105-042

Day 140 - Unions Canterbury Delegates Forum

Several hundred delegates from unions in Canterbury held a forum last night at Addington Raceway.

The invited speakers were Rodger Sutton (CERA) and Leanne Curtis (CanCERN) followed by a lively Q&A from the floor.

The delegates then broke up into 10 groups to come up with significant issues. These were then reported back at the final session. Lots of interesting useful stuff got raised in a very short time.

At the end I had a chance to give a brief talk about Addington Action, how it is organised and the Earthquake Recovery Resource Kit which is being made freely available to other community groups and union delegates. A number of delegates decided to join Addington Action, and others said they plan to make contact.

An excellent well organised evening.

Day 139 - More depots established

One of the challenges of organising a large community on the ground is delegating and making sure everything runs efficiently. Simple systems work best!

A number of neighbourhood depots have been established to speed up distribution to local residents of needed resources.

• food parcels
• pet food
• blankets
• kids toys, books and clothing
• heaters
• posters
• first aid
• safety gear

The depots can only be accessed by committee members of the Addington Action, who have unique ID badges and run the system. This is possible because of the generosity of many people making their home garages available.

A bulk store is also being set up to hold a month of supplies in reserve that can then be distributed to the depots in a weekly top-up.

Day 138 - 50 more copies of Earthquake Recovery Resource Kit

The day was spent making up another 50 copies of the Earthquake Recovery Resource Kit.

This popular kit is in ring binder format to make it easy to update. Everyone on the Addington Action Committee gets one to use as a practical manual.

The EPMU (Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union) donated $100 towards the cost of the binders and Carol at the TEU (Tertiary Education Union) did the photocopying.

Lynette and I put them together. They will be distributed to 20 Street Reps waiting on a copy, and to the many more who have been nominated for their street.

A training course will be organised in the coming weeks on how to use these kits. The course will run at different times and will be aimed at union delegates, street reps, school principals and church committees.

On Wednesday 13th July, the kit will be shown to a city wide meeting of union delegates discussing the impact of the earthquakes.

On Tuesday 19th July, a short talk will be given to representatives of residents groups at the CanCERN meeting about the kit and why it helps organise people at the grass roots.

Day 137 - talk at St Mary's Church Addington

Today I got a very warm reception at St Mary's Church in Addington, when giving a brief talk about what Addington Action was doing and how people from the church could get involved and help.

People discussed

• What was happening to elderly people
• The big issue of housing
• How to help with the upcoming working bees
• What was involved in being a street rep
• Making use of the community lounge at Harman Courts
• The disregard of goverment and council leaders towards working people in this crisis

Day 136 - Strickland St rep

Dianne Fitzgerald has agreed to be the street rep for Strickland St.

Dianne has lived in Strickland St for many years and is the Manager at Manuka Cottage, Addington's community house.

Dianne will be visiting every home on that street to introduce herself and will be able to direct people to resources provided in solidarity via Addington Action.

Day 135 - Scheme brings sisterly love to Christchurch

Watch TV interview

Text copied from TVNZ website

Elderly residents of uninsured quake-damaged homes in Christchurch are being given help from a new scheme which aims to buddy up suburbs.

Addington, just outside the Christchurch CBD, has been partnered up with South Dunedin through the Sister Suburb scheme, and the benefits of the relationship are already being seen.

"We've got a situation here where the social impacts of the quake are impacting on the lives of many working people," Mike Peters from volunteer group Addington Action told TV ONE's Breakfast.

"A lot of people are on minimum wages and their hours are being reduced, or elderly people who bought their own home and now are unable to afford insurance are living in damaged houses.

"We're using Sister Suburbs to get assistance so we can fix these houses so the old people can carry on living in them."

A DIY store in South Dunedin will be donating materials and builders from the area will be making regular trips up to Christchurch to help out at the weekends.

Peters said the suburb is able to make the most of the help because the community is well organised.

"Addington Action was set up the day after the quake and we've got a person from each street on the committee as well as union delegates, school principals and people from the churches," he said.

"So far we're looking after 500 families and the number is going to be 1000 in the next few months."

The Sister Suburb scheme is based on the international Sister City scheme and people can register for help, or see what they can do by visiting the website .

Day 134 - make every home livable!

Many old timers who own their own homes are uninsured, through no fault of their own. They worked hard all their life, and bought a house, but now that they are retired are unable to pay for insurance.

Christchurch has had a series of devastating earthquakes, damaging the majority of homes, leaving many elderly in trouble.

Working people who make up the big majority in suburbs like Addington, Aranui, Bromley, Hei Hei, Hillmorton, Hoon Hay, Phillipstown, and Shirley are finding life increasingly tough because of the social impacts of the earthquake on top of existing low incomes.

• Many people are working reduced hours and unable to make ends meet.
• People have forked out for earthquake repairs out of little savings and still waiting months later for EQC to pay up.
• Traumatised workers who were in warehouses during the quake were unable to continue working and now can't get steady employment.
• The working age children of elderly parents are unable to help their parents out because they are in big trouble too.
• Construction workers have no work because EQC won't pay for the bills owed
• Proud stoical elderly will not ask for help even though they need it

Addington Action has helped 500 households so far and is getting 5 new households a day. What we are seeing is an unfolding social disaster.

So Addington has been getting organised to do something about it. Our biggest resource are the people who live and work here, tapping into their creativity, imagination and self discipline.

Repairs to the uninsured homes of elderly residents will start on Saturday 6 August at 9am in Macaulay St. This will be done by unpaid volunteers and donated materials.

People are very welcome to come and help. More details will be announced in a few days.

Day 132 - Japanese language liaison

Kenji Miyazawa is the latest recruit to Addington Action. Orginally from Japan, he has lived in NZ for 18 years and will be helping with publicity distribution and Japanese translation.

Day 131 - Antigua St rep

Dawne Burns has agreed to be the street rep for Antigua St.

Dawne has lived in Addington for many years and has frequently helped many Addington people.

Dawne will be visiting every home on that street to introduce herself and will be able to direct people to resources provided in solidarity via Addington Action.

Day 130 - Sister Suburbs

Press Release – Sister Suburbs
Sister Suburbs, a new initiative targeting the revival of community groups and activities, has launched a campaign that enables New Zealanders to assist with the recovery process in Christchurch communities.

Media Release
New Sister Suburbs Initiative Provides Opportunity for Community Groups to Assist Christchurch Recovery Process

Community Groups Share Resources on Sister Suburbs Website http://www.sistersuburbs.org.nz/
29 June 2011 – Sister Suburbs, a new initiative targeting the revival of community groups and activities, has launched a campaign that enables New Zealanders to assist with the recovery process in Christchurch communities.

Through the Sister Suburbs website – http://www.sistersuburbs.org.nz/ – community groups in cities like Auckland and Wellington can be matched with corresponding groups in Christchurch that have been affected by the earthquake so that they can directly share resources. Participating groups include the likes of sports clubs, cultural groups, ethnic communities, libraries, museums, schools, kindergartens, early childhood education centres, play groups, business associations, community centres, resident associations, church groups, Plunket, community health centres, and youth groups.

Community organisations can support their Christchurch counterparts in a number of ways including assistance with administration, giving or loaning resources such as sports equipment, books, toys and learning aides or equipment such as car seats and scales, taking part in fundraising efforts, and setting up forums between groups to communicate and provide support on common issues.

The initiative was conceived by Jacinda Ardern, an Auckland based MP. “This is not a political project. It’s based on the idea that communities who come together can make a difference, one project at a time. At the moment, there is still significant media coverage of the recovery process in Christchurch but unfortunately public attention may shift over time. Providing closer links through communities ensures that New Zealanders can continue to support the recovery effort.”

“I had family living in Samoa when the Tsunami struck in 2009 and they told me that the rebuild takes a lot longer than anyone can comprehend, and not everyone who needs help always gets it. There was a universal feeling of helplessness after the Christchurch earthquake. Everyone wanted to help out in some way, shape or form, but the question was how? This initiative aims to provide a more direct and personal contribution to helping the people of Christchurch and rebuilding Christchurch communities,” says Ms Ardern.

Residents support group, Addington Action, will use the Sister Suburbs website to source volunteer builders to assist with non-structural repairs on houses in the Addington, Spreydon, Hoon Hay, Phillipstown, and Hillmorton communities.

According to Mike Peters, organiser of Addington Action, the work will help residents remain in their own homes, as well as boost their spirits and help them maintain a sense of dignity.

“The earthquake and ongoing aftershocks have been the final straw for many of the residents in our local community who were already struggling to cope. A number of people, mainly elderly, have homes that have sustained significant damage but aren’t covered by insurance. Ideally these people want to remain in their own homes but simply don’t have the ability to repair the damage themselves. While we have access to building materials, we now need volunteer builders to help with these repairs on these properties. The Sister Suburbs website is a great way of putting us in contact with people who are keen to lend a helping hand,” he says.

The Sister Suburbs project is supported by Westpac, Telecom, Mr Vintage, IBM, Russell McVeigh and Federation Media.

ENDS
For more information please:
• visit http://www.sistersuburbs.org.nz/

Day 129 - Macaulay St rep

Gilieto Luague has agreed to be the street rep for Macaulay St.

Gilieto is from the Philippines and lives in Macaulay St.

Gilieto will be visiting every home on that street to introduce himself and will be able to direct people to resources provided in solidarity via Addington Action.

Day 128 - Dickens St rep

Dave Dallow has agreed to be the street rep for Dickens St.

Dave has lived on Dickens St for many years and has frequently raised issues with the council on behalf of Dickens St residents. He is retired and a returned serviceman.

Dave will be visiting every home on that street to introduce himself and will be able to direct people to resources provided in solidarity via Addington Action.