Angela Taula, Valentino Lemalu, and Kimiora Kairua alongside the University of Canterbury Student Volunteer Army (SVA) and other local Year 12s, have come to the aid of Prebbleton Plunket. In the space of a few hours, the students transformed the grounds as part of the SVA’s UCan volunteer programme – clearing 400kg of waste from the site.

Despite wet weather, 38 Year 12 students from ten Christchurch schools arrived eager to get to work. The group was active painting, gardening, trimming hedges and spreading bark at the clinic – and even prepared their own BBQ lunch, which they shared with everyone present.

Plunket volunteers were grateful for the help after falling behind in the maintenance of the facility.

“As volunteers and busy mums ourselves, we really appreciate everyone giving up their time to help us out. It would have taken our volunteers a whole weekend to get that amount of work done.”

The UCan programme encourages local secondary students to become leaders in their communities through volunteering, while being mentored by SVA members. Sam Lam, Taylah Mawson and Tim Greene, the SVA’s In-Schools Mentors, were impressed with all the students’ willingness to get stuck in.

“They showed great attitude and did some excellent work. We hope they enjoyed their time and are keen to continue to help their communities.”