Butterfly Compassion Community (BCC) has little to do with butterflies, but a lot to do with support, compassion, sharing and upcycling. It all started through a simple wish to give something back to the community nearly two and a half years ago.

Trina Sheridan and her colleague Jo Donaldson, community assistant from Latitude Homes were looking at a positive way to offer support to families at Christmas time and came up with the idea of gift packs for children of families who might struggle with this. They decided to work in collaboration with the NZ Police, who  distributed 350 gift packs BCC created from their personal and Latitude donations, and as Trina recalls ‘found it a really positive thing to do in the community which also helped people see the police in a different light’. Gift packs given out almost trebled in amount to 1000 last Christmas, with further donation gifting.

Feedback from this action was encouraging, so Trina and her team of volunteers decided not just to limit activities to Christmas, but to look and see what other needs that were out there could be met. This evolved into working with the children’s ward at the hospital, providing sensory boards, and working with organisations such as Age Concern and Alzheimer’s New Zealand for provide care packs for the elderly and vulnerable.

All their initiatives have a strong sustainability and repurposing focus to care for our planet as well as our people. There is a focus on upcycling and reducing waste with the organization welcoming donations of ‘nearly new’ toys, books, clothes and blankets that can be included in packs, plus locally hand made items such as beanies and blankets. Trina is clear that ‘where there is need, we will assist’ and that they are there to complement and work alongside other groups in the area such as MENZshed and Supergrans Manawatū.

Trina is incredibly grateful to all the volunteers involved who give what they can, when they can, whether it is sewing, knitting or making packs. For her, the vision links to the butterfly landing on someone; ‘It lands and gives support then flies off, and sometimes it lands and stays for a while, and that person may choose to volunteer, donate and help’.

BCC welcomes donations and is also looking for volunteers to help with their work and can be contacted at info.butterflycompassion@gmail.com, FB, Instagram or Butterfly HQ 262 Rangitikei St (Latitude Homes), thanks to a generous Boss Graham who allows the butterfly to fly