Community Driven

I’m a farmer’s daughter and one of five. We moved from Seadown to Irwell, on the edge of Lake Ellesmere, when I was eight. My dad broke his back in a horse racing accident at forty and supposedly retired, but then took up dairy farming again. Mum was always a volunteer. She did the PTA thing and trained as a St John’s first aider. She was always giving and serving the community – it was just something we did.

We lived a frugal but happy life. Mum and Dad had big veggie gardens, so we learnt to grow our own food and we had milk off the farm. We all used to live in hand-me-downs. I’m very grateful to my parents for teaching me how to be thrifty and resourceful.

I married a third-generation arable farmer, Stuart, at Leeston, just ten minutes from where I grew up. We have three grown-up children. My daughters, Kim and Abi, are nurses, one in Greymouth and one in Christchurch. They both had a child last year, so we now have a granddaughter and grandson, which is the best. Thomas, our youngest, manages the farm. We also have a Huntaway Labrador cross that Thomas thought would be a great sheep dog, but he’s not, and an elderly cat who is eighteen.

We are cropping and we run sheep, and then there is David Bell Daffodils, which Community Driven has been my baby since 1997. We sell bulbs in autumn and cut flowers in spring. We also have pick-your-own days and open the farm to visits from local rest homes. I’m told I’m not a very good business woman because I tend to give away more than I sell. We offer bulbs at a significantly reduced price for fundraising packs for schools and community groups. For the last couple of years, all proceeds from my roadside wagon on Daffodil Day have gone to the Cancer Society.

I’ve been chair of the Ellesmere Community Care Organisation (ECCO) for the last nine years. Initially, I was invited onto the committee as a representative from our church group and sort of fell into the chairperson role because everyone else was significantly older than me. But it is something I’m passionate about. We don’t have a bus service in Leeston, so our committee members and volunteers drive people to and from medical appointments. We have twenty-five volunteers and a committee of ten. I think we did 280 drives in the last twelve months. I pick up most of the family assistance work for ECCO, helping in practical ways like coordinating a delivery of firewood, paying a power bill, organising a food parcel or whatever else might be needed.

Last week, I was approached by someone whose friend’s husband had fallen ill. They have children and he was the breadwinner. We needed to set them up with some meals while Nanna sat with the children and Mum spent time in the hospital, but we also had to plan for what they might need later in regard to bills, food and firewood. How could we love on them and relieve the pressures closing in around them?

Support from companies like PGG Wrightson means ECCO can afford to help people who are struggling to make ends meet. We receive valuable support from the Ellesmere Lions, but are otherwise mostly self-funded by contributions from the people we drive to appointments. Sometimes clients can’t afford to contribute, so cash injections can help cover driving costs and other aid we may need to provide. PGG Wrightson’s Cash for Communities programme has been a significant help.

It’s often tricky defining what is ECCO work and what is just me being me. I’m a regular plasma donor and have just given my 54th donation. I guess a normal day in my life is looking for people to help and ways to use what I’ve got to make the world a better place. Recently, we had a gentleman who needed to find accommodation. Because I’m a long-time local and know a lot of people, I was able to vouch for him and secure him a unit. That’s how we keep our people healthy and connected.