Lots of Little Fires, as always, have been burning deep in our Waikato communities and Muredach and Joe have been capturing the magic of two incredible kaupapa over the past two months. Both these stories are now in edit and we look forward to releasing the first by the end of this month of May. Firstly, we have ‘The Serve’.
THE SERVE … free healthy kai, 365 days a year, served to our food poor and homeless communities by a team of over 100 volunteers.
What’s it all about?
The Serve has been operating for eleven years and was started by three wahine serving kai out the back of a car in Garden Place to the homeless and food poor. It has moved venues over the years as the need has grown and evolved with the facilities that each landlord and building has enabled.
For the past three years, The Serve has operated out of the First Church on King Street, Frankton. Between 4.30 and 5.30pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year, a team of passionate volunteers collect, receive, prepare and serve takeaway meals to our food poor and homeless. Over the years, there has been an increasing need for a permanent venue for The Serve, where they can operate out with a place to cook on site, have showers, washing machines and sit-down meals for our communities to get the real support they so desperately need.
The basis of this story is to raise awareness to the situation facing our food poor, to celebrate the people and the kaupapa of The Serve as a positive alternative to an unmet need and to help advocate for them to find a landlord with a building where The Serve can move into to further the impact of their work for our most vulnerable communities in Hamilton.
THE ROAD TO HEALING AOTEAROA …Waikato’s, Sam Troth, story of surviving sexual abuse as a child and ‘Healing out loud’ to raise awareness, challenge government policy, educate and inspire others to make Aotearoa a safe place for our young people…
Sam Troth, who lives in Waihi with his family, has been raising awareness on the stats and realities of sexual abuse in Aotearoa. He went from victim to survivor, thriver and now he is on a mission to be a reviver for others who have been through similar experiences. By doing this he is educating people from all walks of life on ways to keep their children safe but also to gain a national collective voice and petition to increase the minimum sentence for sex offenders to eight years.
This is to flip the script on the sentence from one that currently places the concern with the wellbeing of the sex offender to the victim, so that they can heal properly from what is a lifelong trauma and one that has massive impacts on the rest of their life. To raise awareness, Sam and his team of two others, have walked in relay from Cape Reinga to Wellington to deliver their petition to the government to get action on this incredibly important issue. Lots of Little Fires have captured this story to help Sam get his kaupapa out there and to help further his mission to grow in his capacity to be the change and continue to raise awareness and inspire others to join him.
Muredach and Joe spent a long but incredible day filming and interviewing Sam. We met him at 4am in Raahui Pookekea and followed him as he completed his walking leg for that day and conducted his interview on the side of the road in Ngahinepouri. This story will be powerful, raw and real but most importantly, full of hope and a path forward to a better future for our young people and families.
Sam’s Story will be released by the end of June, and we will continue to support and walk alongside him as allies to his mission and kaupapa.
