
Our News

MASH Trust Volunteer Awards
To celebrate National Volunteer Week, MASH Trust honoured our volunteers by giving out three awards and celebrating their achievements and service to MASH. The awards were: Think Big Award – This Award celebrates the volunteer whose innovative ideas makes a difference. Awarded to Murray Matthews Living the Values Award – this award is honouring the volunteer who embodies the core values of inclusion, kindness and determination. Awarded to Sue Smith Impact Achiever Award – this award celebrates a volunteer who hit the floor running and made an immediate impact. Awarded to June Allan A note from Mel, Friendship Volunteer Coordinator: Volunteering is the heart and soul of every community, and with your generosity, kindness and willingness to give your time and energy to support others ensures that our organisation is fulfilling its mission statement “Working together to achieve great lives”.
Recently, we held our Staff Excellence Awards. This is a time where we recognise and celebrate the amazing mahi our staff do all day, every day. This year, there were three awards: LIVING OUR VALUES For a person or team who puts into action all of our values (Relationships, Communication, Opportunities, Believe, Mana, and Fun) in their work every day and demonstrates ‘working together to achieve great lives’. Congratulations to team Russell Street. A team who have stepped into a new level of knowledge, confidence, and care that embraces our values. All to support people to achieve positive outcomes and live great lives. UNDER THE RADAR This award is for the quiet achiever. Someone who does their job well, is consistent and reliable. Our winners of this award are the definition of quiet achievers. Ata and rosa provide the right support and know their contract inside and out to ensure flawless paperwork. Their attention to detail, and consistency, and real, individualised support to people is outstanding. ABOVE AND BEYOND This award is for someone who has excelled in their role, goes above and beyond their duties for the people we support, and/or implemented something new (innovation). Aaita Subba worked hard to create an environment that the people we support, their family/whānau, and staff, enjoy and are proud of. Taking it upon themselves to tidy, water, add new plants and transform the gardens at the home. ELT Excellence There is so much good that happens at MASH, and it is truly noticed and appreciated. So this year, our Executive Leadership Team decided to add another award for ELT Excellence. Milly Parsons is described as the heart and soul of the home where she works. Milly has creative energy into a sensory room within the home. It has become a space that the people within the home thrive in and love using as part of their routine. A huge thank you to all our staff at MASH for the work you do. Often quietly, consistently, and with real commitment. Using a person-centred approach, all day, every day, isn’t always the easiest path, but it’s the right thing to do. Choosing to support self-determination, to listen, adapt, and stay focused on what matters to the people we support. That’s what makes the difference to them.

Staff Excellence Awards

New MASH Trust community space opens in Taitoko Levin
On Monday 24 March, MASH Trust opened its new community space Te Puna Rau Aroha, in Taitoko Levin. This has been a project years in the making as we searched for a site in Horowhenua that would be fit for the future of MASH. We spent time refining plans, and consulted across the community with iwi, sector experts, staff, people we support, and their whānau. We worked closely with Wayne Bishop Group around the construction work, while a catalyst team made sure everything from data cabling to furniture was taken care of. We also worked with Muaūpoko who gifted us the name Te Puna Rau Aroha and led the site blessings. Our new community space aims to bring the community in with bookable Sensory Space, as well as being a base for Living Plus, and our office-based staff in Levin.
In early March, we held our first whānau/family advisory group meeting (some of the members of this group are pictured, with others attending online using Teams). This group will support MASH to ensure the voices of the whānau/family have contributed to the development and review of key processes that impact them.

Whanau advisory group