A Playcentre Garden for Denise

Denise McKenzie is part of our Playcentre family. She has been heavily involved with Playcentre since her now grown-up children were at Playcentre and is currently part of the Centre Support Team in Canterbury. She is passionate about Playcentre and passes on so much of her experience and knowledge to help centres thrive.

Sadly, Denise and her husband Ken's property was caught up in the Christchurch Port Hills fires this month. You may have seen their story on the news. Incredibly, and thanks to the massive efforts of helicopter crews, their house survived intact. Unfortunately it was the only part of their farm that did. They have worked for 25 years to establish a farm that could give them a self-sustaining lifestyle and an income following Ken's recent retirement. Their orchard, garden, native trees, paddocks, new shed and fencing have all been lost. And an extra blow is that they did not have farm insurance so ironically their house is the only thing that was insured.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201833496/house-singed-but-everything-else-lost

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/89380711/Lucky-escape-for-Christchurch-family-home-as-Port-Hills-blazes-spread

http://www.star.kiwi/2017/02/escape-from-a-wall-of-fire-i-was-numb/

There is another GiveALittle page that has been set up to raise money for new fencing for them, which is awesome. However after contact from other Playcentres around the country, we thought it would be nice to do something particularly from Playcentre whanau nationwide, to show them that Playcentre is our village, no matter how far away. So this page has been set up to raise money to fund new plants and trees for the McKenzies. All money raised on this page will be put into an account at Oderings Garden Centre, who have kindly offered to donate extra plants and supplies to them as well. Denise and Ken can then access and purchase plants as and when they are able to replant. Wouldn't it be lovely for them to be able to sit on their (slightly burnt) deck one day and look out at their lovely new garden and trees and know that Playcentre whanau from all over the country have shown their love and support for another Playcentre family in this way. She spends her days supporting Centres, let's show her how much we can support her too.