About Us

Our History

Neighbourhood Trust (NHT) was established in May 1999 to enable the people of St Albans Baptist to be more active in serving their community.

NHT’s activities have changed and expanded over the years, but the heart of these programmes is still the focus on building resources into families and older adults in the North East part of Christchurch. Starting from small beginnings, NHT has evolved and changed to meet current community need and while some services are no longer provided, others are growing and getting stronger and new projects are in the development stage.

In the early years, we refurbished computers to make them available to the community and later added an Upskilling in Computers programme. As other organisations came into the market creating better access to these specialist skills, NHT closed down these activities.

The support for new parents has taken many forms over the years, from antenatal classes to Mainly Music and coffee groups, changing to adapt to the needs of families.

NHT has worked with the local Papanui / Innes Community Board in a number of ways. In 2006 it was commissioned by the Board to do research into the needs of the Mairehau / Shirley Community. A number of activities began as a result of that research.

Immediately after the 2011 earthquake NHT was invited to work with the Community Board to get timely information out to the St Albans / Mairehau / Shirley / Richmond areas and distributed 6,000 flyers into those areas. NHT also hosted the Towards Recovery series at the St Albans Baptist Church facilities.

The Christchurch earthquakes tore apart the fabric of our community and the years following saw a huge investment in door-knocking (over 7,000 homes), free meals and clean water, drop-in lunches, and recovery workshops.

Since the earthquakes, NHT has supported our community through the trauma of the mosque shootings and Covid-19.

During lockdown NHT provided Kai Boxes (food parcels) to whānau in need and kept in touch with our community via phone and social media. The Northwest Collective worked as a tremendous team, by collaborating to minimise the hardship whānau faced during this time.

In 2020 we transformed our Mairehau building space into The Whānau Centre (previously craft collective shop, Pay It Forward) and are enjoying having a physical presence in the community we serve the most. We utilise the space for ESOL classes, support huis, Kai Box distribution, and coffee groups.

NHT has always been strongly collaborative, actively seeking out partners to add value to our clients as well as theirs, and to bring resources into a community in the most efficient way.

Having experienced some changes in leadership and community behavior patterns the Neighbourhood Trust is in refresh and rebuild mode. We are looking at the future with excitement and enthusiasm, new leadership and a clear vision.