The Youth Week theme this year was ‘Aroha Mai, Aroha Atu – Giving Back is Giving Forward.  The Youth Committee put in lots hours of hard work to make the event a great success. We decided to provide a three course meal for our families in Porirua to say thank you, to acknowledge them and to celebrate our families.  The Committee met four times in the weeks leading up to the event to organise the menu, entertainment and the general layout for the night.

One of our members from the Committee spoke at the dinner and shared what it meant to be a youth today and give back to the community. He spoke on behalf of the Committee sharing how we were all seeds that had been nurtured to become strong trees.  It was great to see some of our future leaders using their talents and mixing with the younger children who attended the dinner.

Some of the feedback we received included:

“My favourite part of the night was meeting new people and reuniting with people I haven’t seen for a long time.”

“I think that the youth were celebrated at this event. It was a lovely introduction about who they are and what they do.”

“Thank you very much for inviting my family and I along we had a great night.”

“My favourite part of the night was playing with the balloons, the bubbles and eating the dessert.” (From a 5 year old)

A big thank you to those who supported this event, especially Ara Taiohi and the Tu Hono Marae Whanau.  We look forward to next year’s event and what we can do to make it bigger and better.