St Matt's Community Garden thrives in Taitā

Since April this year, Co-Missioners Caro Willis and Maria Kirkland have seen the transformative power of community unfold at St Matthew's, Taitā, through their weekly commitment to the church’s community garden. The turning point came when a member of St Matt’s, a teacher from Capital Training who works with rangatahi (youth), approached the Missioners with a question: "Do you think I could bring my young people to the garden each week?"

Since then, a group of 4–6 rangatahi from Capital Training has joined the community gardening sessions each week for the last two school terms. They’ve gotten their hands dirty, participating in planting, harvesting, and cooking with produce from the garden. Each session concludes with shared kai (food) and whanaungatanga (connection time), bringing the participants closer together.