Neighbours Aotearoa encourages on-the-ground participation with a focus on everyday activities like cooking, eating, making, learning, and repairing. The focus is on inclusive and accessible opportunities that appeal to people from many backgrounds and encourage sharing. Below are some examples of things that have been done previously by the Neighbours Aotearoa community.
Heather has been the creative street’s coordinator extraordinaire for 5 years now and she absolutely loves how everyone gets out on the street to have fun together.
“We have been doing Neighbours Aotearoa events for 10 years now and we are looking forward to it every year!” - Heather
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Sarah and Ange from Seeds to Feeds chat with us about sharing seeds and swapping crops with your community.
"It’s also to give people the confidence to try growing their own food or raising seedlings from seed. It’s all part of food security and food sovereignty."
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Bex from Kumeu Clothing Swap & Shop chats with us about organising a clothing swap
"It is important to focus your time and resources on promoting the event to people who you know are in your target market. It’s helpful that op shopping is on trend right now, and of course most people are interested in sustainability (especially if it is made easy for them)"
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Melissa from Te Atatu Peninsula, Tāmaki Makaurau chats with us about setting up a free garage sale
"It’s all in the name! It’s just like a garage sale but everything is free! Pick a date. Share the idea with your neighbours (if you want to make it a street thing). Spread the word. Put out everything you want to give away on your verge for the day. "
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Lisa and Dan lived in an apartment in Wellington City and they didn’t know anyone in the building. This was really difficult in the first lockdown when everyone was isolating and there was no connection at all. When they moved to a street in Lower Hutt later in 2020 they decided to have a BBQ and invited their neighbours to get to know them. This led to a string of other events that the residents in the street enjoyed creating together, from Halloween celebrations to an Easter egg hunt this upcoming Easter. In 3 years time they got to know most of their neighbours. They enjoy how people look out for each other and how they share veges from their garden. Lisa’s zucchini plants were not pulling through this Summer, but a neighbour brought her the excess from their thriving zucchini plant. “This was such a great gift to receive!” Lisa sees the value of getting to know each other and knowing that you have support in your street. It has increased a sense of safety. There have been burglary issues that got solved easier because camera footage was shared with the police. The residents have set up a Facebook group that has proven to be very useful for most, but flyers are being dropped in letterboxes for the people who do not join Facebook. This includes translation for Cantonese/Mandarin speaking neighbours. There is a grass reserve behind the street that has been great for play for the little kids. One neighbour once got a selection of large games from the Toy Library and everyone got together to enjoy a fun afternoon. At the moment Lisa is talking to the council to start a Community Garden on a part of the grass area close to their street, it will be great to have a shared garden to grow food. And maybe Seeds to Feeds can help with some seedlings in Spring. Lisa is sharing with us that her street has 34 houses, around 85 people between 20-65 years old and lots of young kids primary school age and younger. She says she feels way more connected to her street and the people around her since her neighbours and herself have been teaming up on building a welcoming community together!
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