Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

Community Networks/LINK want to say Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a huge thank you to the Wānaka community for all your support in 2021.

To those who donated time, money, clothing or food; to our great team of volunteers; funding partners; support agencies; local businesses; families and individuals – you have all helped us continue and deepen our role as the Upper Clutha’s one-stop community support and connection centre.

This year, we gave out 638 food parcels and our front desk staff had 5,688 interactions with the community in person, over the phone and online.  Our Community Support Fund helped 131 people with the costs of counselling, and 84 with other one-off household costs.  100 individuals got connected at two LINK Connection Cafes focused on support services and activities for seniors and families respectively; and 40 people from a mix of community groups and families participated in 2 seasons of the LINK Community Gardens at the Hub.

Of course, we couldn't have done this without support.  To name just a few examples: both New World stores donated 550 food bags through the 2021 Family2Family appeal; $760 was raised for the Foodbank at the Winter Solstice Splash; local performances of Michael Metzger’s play ‘The Changing Shed’ raised over $6,000 for subsidized counselling through our Community Support Fund; and New World Three Park’s second annual grocery grab raised $1,350 for the Foodbank.

It’s been a busy year!  Our team are taking a break over the festive period, and our opening hours are above.  In the meantime, you can visit www.communitynetworks.co.nz for information - and if you need to talk, you can free call or text 1737 24 hours a day to speak to a trained counsellor.  We look forward to seeing you all in 2022!