Shine on Kaitaia is illuminating its Far North community through a series of projects driven by youth navigators and a dedicated team of volunteers. Their key people, Serenity Taniwha, Micah Tawhara and Kirsty Saxon, along with the youth navigators have all committed to driving several community projects forward. 

One of their most recent projects is the development of Jaycee Park and playground which is centrally located in the Kaitaia township and is by far the most popular park in the town.

Discussions on the state of the park began with a series of Facebook posts which attracted many comments.  The Te Hiku Community Board was able to immediately fund two new pieces of equipment for the park, however there was scope for further development and Shine on Kaitaia became involved as community stakeholders working alongside the Te Hiku Community Board and the Far North District Council.

To find out more about what the community wanted, several community meetings were held in 2016 and 2017 including a Connecting Communities day hosted by The Warehouse – where several different opportunities to collect data were offered including a post-it wish list activity with pictures of local parks, an online survey hosted by the Council and the many posts/comments in the Facebook group page, Friends of Jaycee Park.

With continuing to work alongside the Te Hiku Community Board, Shine on Kaitaia made a submission to the FNDC Long Term Plan and around $50,000 from the Council Placemaking Fund and Community Grant fund was allocated for the initial upgrade of the park. A new nautical themed playground will be installed over the next couple of weeks while further development is planned once more funding is secured.

Not content with just this project, Shine on Kaitaia also hosted a Talent Quest and Basketball Challenge Competition at the recent A&P Show and co-hosted alongside Te Rarawa Anga Mua the recently held Children’s Day event.  They are also involved with the development of the old PAKn’SAVE building and creating this into a Youth Centre space.

With groups as passionate about making a difference in their communities as Shine on Kaitaia, we are all lucky to be part of their light.