Grand Opening to Supergrans

 

Welcome to Supergrans modernised building.

I was on Floral work - trying to make two matching displays was quite hard. Also I knew the ribbon was red which limited by choice of flowers, but the red chillies hanging down were a hit.

I wasn't needed in the kitchen - but they certainly were well prepared. This is the commercial kitchen side where we can prepare bulk meals with repurposed food.

This is the counselling room. I donated (thanks Simon) one of Phyls pictures which had some tears in the canvas which had to be repaired and then I touched up, but it looks pretty spectacular.

And not to be outdone, I donated one of my paintings "Down on the Boardwalk" which hangs in the Boardroom.

Molly Pardoe our chairperson, and Rehette Stoltz, the mayor hold the ribbon while Meka Whaitiri cut the ribbon. You can see my floral efforts framing this "stage" in front of what is the "home" kitchen to teach younger ones about what it is like to cook at home.

The speeches were very short, and all quite humorous, the singing was lusty so it was quickly done.

The last speaker was our inspirational leader, Linda Coulston, who is very visionary in what could be achieved - if fact what needed to be achieved.

She related an anecdote about the commercial oven. Not only can you set it to cook (or dehydrate) at night, the oven is also self cleaning AND she can monitor all this on her phone at home!

I then proceeded to lead guided tours of the different facilities, focussing on good donors.

The food bank dried goods store.

The canned goods store and one of our chillers. We also have a freezer and another chiller built in.

The Koha shed - the boxes are named "Boys Age 8 singlets and underpants." or similar

More in the Koha shed with adults clothing and bedding. Although we get quite good quality duvet covers, the inners are quite often a bit manky, so we buy new ones with donations. There is also a shed for furniture but that hasn't been sorted yet!

Lastly the offices for our workers, Social worker Ju, Kai co-ordinator Gypsy, Field worker Erana (goes up the coast a lot.)

Standing or sitting desks. I think they probably need one of my paintings in here too LOL.

Tiffany (office manager) and Linda (SGT manager) work out of the boardroom.

Next week may involve some cleaning of the old premises before we hand it back.