Awa Pukapuka update

Over on Facebook Anja Geeling provided an update on the Little Free Library project:

Hello all

At the AGM in December, my husband Theo and I presented Awa Pukapuka, a ‘little free library’ for the Waikawa Beach Community.

In a nutshell:

Just before lockdown in March last year, when the whole of New Zealand came to a literal standstill, we found this old wooden Optimist… and a project came alive… a little free library for Waikawa Beach. We had the idea to transform this old opti into an ‘outdoor bookcase’.

We started working on it during the lockdown and we have had this boat sitting in our lounge here at Waikawa Beach ever since. We didn’t think it would take us that long… but we were wrong… after all… 2020 was not a year of ‘normality’.

At the AGM several of you offered their help, either with installing, maintaining and donating books/cd’s/magazines/dvd’s. Please contact me or leave a comment.

The library is now nearing completion and still residing in my lounge… 😊 I thought I will give you an update:

We approached the council in early November with regards to the location (behind the Hank Edward Reserve sign at the end of Waikawa Beach Road, near the street light) and we immediately received a very positive response. Sadly, that person (Ben Wood) has left the Council before all had the ‘go-ahead nod’. Since then we have approached the Council on several occasions over the last few months. We are still waiting for an answer.

We have applied for Council funding (CreativeNZ) to engage a local artist to create artwork for the outside of the library. The funding application only opened last month. The good news is that tomorrow (Tuesday) I have been invited to do a short presentation to the funding committee at the Council. Keeping fingers crossed we will receive a positive outcome.

At the AGM the WBRA kindly committed $750 towards the installation of the library. Up until now, we have funded time and materials ourselves. All we need now is concrete, a post, a few brackets and some assistance with the installation as the boat has now become too heavy for Theo to handle single-handedly and is too heavy for me to help him. Any assistance is appreciated.

We sincerely hope that in the next few weeks we can place Awa Pukapuka, Waikawa’s Beach own little free library. 😊

We hope that this project, ‘birthed’ during Lockdown 2020 will bring joy to the Waikawa Beach community… create kinship… and be a beacon of hope for a better world for all.

Thank you,

Anja

See also: Awa Pukapuka — a community asset.