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. Our OSCAR (Out of School Care) programme also started this year.

We launched our first Kai and Fireworks’ event for our community – this later became known as our Light Party which is the biggest annual event that attracts up to 1000+ from around St Albans and Mairehau. Each year our Light Party happens on October 31st. Our Christmas Hampers project also started this year and is still going strong today, providing festive kai boxes for needy families in our community.

The support for new parents has taken many forms over the years, from antenatal classes to Music & Action (which still runs today) and coffee groups, changing to adapt to the needs of families.

A variety of parenting initiatives also started at this time including Kiwi Mums, Kiwi Dads, Parenting Week/Adventures and Divorce Care. Our ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes also started this year.

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 and Shake the Quake weight exercise classes.

We started the Mairehau Neighbourhood Project which provided counselling and snack boxes in schools, coffee mornings, parenting courses, webinars, a mural, pastoral care and food parcels for families. Our Pay it Forward Craft Cooperative officially opened its store and meeting space in early 2015.

During the first lockdown due to the pandemic, 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 Kai Box distribution, support huis and coffee groups.

During 2021, we started our Strength & Balance Classes for Goldens (over 60’s). We continued to support our community through the challenges of the pandemic, providing help where needed to our community. We also started providing employment support for those wanting to create or improve their CV as well as work on their cover letters.

This year we have started several new initiatives: Counselling for Parents, the Mairehau Neighbourhood Garden a parenting course for Dads called ‘Game On!’ as well as a budgeting course.

2023 was a busy year at the Neighbourhood Trust, with a full team of staff working hard in the community. NHT OSCAR began the year with expanding to two sites which offers care for 6 schools.  Our new Community Development Worker worked extra hard to facilitate two new Initiatives, Women’s Connections, and the CAP Money Course. The Mairehau Neighbourhood Garden had its 1st anniversary this year, which happened just a week after our very successful Light Party.