“I ring around the schools in March to see if they need anything. I do it with my daughter and two or three friends and I get the schools to draw an outline of the children’s feet to give me an idea of what’s needed. I also get an outline of the children’s hands for the mittens. I can make two pairs of slippers in an evening,” Faith says.

We’ve teamed up with Auckland Council and SPCA to give you some tips on keeping the community safe around dogs including how to be a responsible dog owner, how to teach tamariki good practice when being around dogs, and what to do when you see a wandering dog.

SPCA also offer discounted desexing and microchipping for your dog or cat. Find out more. 

Naturally artistic, Te can lend her hand to most arts and crafts. She crochets and her new favourite pastimes are photography and print making.
These are skills she’s put to great use in the Te Mātāwai community. She’s contributed work to an onsite art exhibition, assisted with photography projects, taken photos at events, sold her arts and crafts offsite, and helped to plan activities for the onsite youth group.

“When I moved in ‌18 months‌ ago, I got involved in art classes, which led to exhibiting one of my art works. Then I helped with costumes and a lot of the paperwork for two photography projects involving tenants with artist and lecturer Dieneke Jansen from Auckland University of Technology.

We’ll now be acting sooner when rent payments are missed and we’ll be supporting customers to repay their debt quickly. We’ll also be taking a firmer approach with customers who skip payments, ignore their rent debt, or refuse to work with us.

Households who fall on hard times but are making genuine attempts to get back on track with their rent will continue to receive support from us. We’re a social housing landlord so that’s the right thing to do.

1. Make sure you’re paying the right amount of Income Related Rent; you could be overpaying. If your income has decreased or your household is now different, Work and Income will be able to recalculate your rent payments so you’re paying the right amount for your circumstances.

2. Set a budget to manage your expenses. Understand your incoming and outgoing payments and set a budget to help you manage your expenses. Be realistic about how much you have and what you can spend, as well as your fixed and variable expenses. ‘Sorted’ suggests that what you’ll need when setting a budget are:

3. Set up different accounts for spending, bills, savings. Automate what outgoings you can – set up automatic payments for bills in the dedicated bills account separate from your spending account so you don’t overspend and default on your bills.

4. Pay down debt as quickly as possible to avoid additional interest and penalties. Read more about tackling debt on Sorted

5. Avoid payday loans, hire purchases, and buy now, pay later schemes. They are designed to entice us into buying what we couldn’t normally afford.

6. Create an emergency fund. Once your essentials are covered, save whatever you can spare with an aim to get to $1,000 to keep in an emergency fund. Keep it in a savings account (not a term deposit), so it’s out of reach but you can still access it when unexpected expenses crop up without putting yourself into debt.

7. Get a financial mentor through MoneyTalks. They will help you navigate your debts, finances, your credit rating, advocate on your behalf with banks, utility providers, and design an individual plan to get you on top of your finances.

•  If a Strep A throat infection is diagnosed, antibiotics will be prescribed to prevent rheumatic fever and the full 10-day course of antibiotics needs to be taken, even if you feel better.

If you need free health advice or have any immediate concerns, call Healthline on 0800 611 116.

The 10 new homes are a combination of two and three-bedrooms and include a three-story walk-up building, only the second one we have built in Gisborne.

To prepare, getting the flu vaccination is our first line of defence. This is free for those most likely to get very sick – including everyone aged 65 and over. See bookmyvaccine.health.nz or call 0800 28 29 26.

When you hear the smoke alarm sound, always get out and stay out. Go to your safe meeting place and call 111.

We spend a lot of time in our homes over winter, and we enjoy that more if we feel warm and dry. Be sure to heat bedrooms and other rooms you spend time in. Remember, drier air is easier and cheaper to heat, and stopping moisture building up helps prevent mould.

Times are financially tough for many who live in New Zealand, and electricity, along with other household costs, is becoming more expensive. There are lots of support options available to those experiencing energy hardship. ERANZ (the Electricity Retailers’ Association of New Zealand) has produced a resource that provides a brief introduction to some of those sources of support find out more online here: https://eranz.org.nz/for-consumers/having-trouble-paying-your-power-bill-2

Matariki, Māori New Year, is on Ramere 20 Hune (Friday 20 June) this year. During Matariki, the star cluster, also known as Pleiades in western astronomy, Subaru in Japan, Mao in China, and Krittika in India, is most visible in the night sky. It is a time for remembrance, and reflection on the past, and current and looking forward to the new. For Māori, it’s a significant time for the beginning of planting crops, harvest and life.