Nestle New Zealand—26 June 2015

Nestle NZ has been a fantastic sponsor of CUE Haven for several years.  They have regularly provided our volunteers with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, snacks and water bottles all of which have been very much appreciated.

Nestle has a strong commitment to community service.  Staff spend a day each year doing various community service projects and today, as part of their zero carbon initiative, they added another level of support to the CUE Haven project by coming out to help us plant trees.

The group arrived at about nine and included Ben, Blair, Brad, Jay, Jono, Jyotsna, Kate, Kelly, Kim, Lena, Lony, Matthew, Minyada and Vanessa.

We got acquainted over morning tea (with Nestle Café Menu coffees of course!) and gave the group an overview of the CUE Haven project, a safety briefing and a talk about the plan for the day.

Today we were planting in the steep area near the nursery.  Previous groups have been working in the area but there is still a large amount to cover and the group went to work filling in gaps and extended the planted area.  It was challenging planting because the ground is steep and uneven and also covered with a thick layer of dead kikuyu grass.

But the team coped very well and quickly got to work laying out the trees and planting.

For the most part it was a perfect day for planting.

But at one point a brief shower came along–it didn’t last long and was quickly followed by a rainbow.

Lena decided to celebrate the sunshine with some spade yoga 🙂

The team kept working and made a lot of progress.

After a few hours we broke for a late lunch.  The team gathered up the pots and trays for recycling and we tallied up the trees planted.  In just a few hours, the team managed to plant over 600 trees!  An amazing accomplishment and a tribute to their enthusiasm and hard work.

While most of the team was in the field, Jyostna, who is recovering from a knee injury, helped out in the kitchen getting lunch ready and cleaning up. Thanks very much, Jyotsna!

After lunch we took the group for a tour of the property and walked back down via gully walking track.

We are very grateful for all the support Nestle NZ has provided to CUE Haven over the years and we look forward to our ongoing partnership.

It was really nice meeting more of the Nestle NZ team and we want to thank Kate for organising the very productive and fun planting day.

We really enjoyed meeting and working with you all.  The native trees you have planted will be absorbing carbon from our atmosphere as they grow and establish the canopy which will provide shelter for a variety of plant and birdlife to flourish. What a great contribution not just to CUE Haven but also our planet! Thank you.

We look forward to having you all back again for a more relaxing visit.

THANKS AGAIN!