Volunteer Days - Thursday @ Saturday 10 am to 2 pm

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Volunteer Days - Thursday @ Saturday 10 am to 2 pm ***

Our Team

The CSCGT team consists of a dedicated group of volunteers, staff and local residents committed to engaging in and promoting community gardening. Without the support of these people we would be unable to continue our mahi, uphold our Kaupapa and contribute towards neighbourhood sustainability practices.

Board of Trustees

  • The Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the Christchurch South Community Gardens Trust and any decisions related to the financing and fundraising of our mahi and the hiring of any paid staff. As as trust, we operate according to our mission statement, kaupapa and core values. The trust purposes reflect these values.

  • The purpose of the CSCGT is to:

    • Develop an aesthetically pleasing, productive and recreational community garden

    • Collaborate with residents, funders and other supporters

    • Encourage collective gardening and decision making

    • Promote waste minimisation, home composting and other sustainable practices

    • Enhance cultural understanding by providing horticultural-centred community events

    • Provide quality produce for distribution to the local community

    • Provide a venue for research and the support of students on placement

    • Provide volunteering opportunities for a wide range of groups and individuals

    • Develop supportive relationships with local schools and other education providers

    • Promote trust-based economic principles

    • Support food security by supplying nutritious and low-cost produce for all

  • Our core values form the HOW section of our guiding framework, The Golden Circle. The Golden Circle was developed by the board of trustees in 2021 and is strategy for the continuous development of our kaupapa. We use this framework to guide our mahi towards achieving our overarching goal of supporting neighbourhood sustainability.

    Our core values are reflective and constantly developing as we and others encounter new challenges and opportunities in the community sector. As of 2026, our core values are:

    • Intersectional Justice

    • Embracing Adversity

    • Transparent and Accountable

    • Supporting multi-culturalism

    • Respect

    • Continuous Learning

    • Being Courageous and Proactive

    • Welcoming Diversity

Join our board
Join our board

Join our Board

We are seeking new members to join the Christchurch South Community Gardens Trust Board. The Board meets every second month Saturday at 11 am.

The Trust oversees the garden’s operations and is looking for individuals with skills or interests in one or more of the following areas:

  • Te ao/maturanga Maori, te reo and Te Titiriti o Waitangi

  • Neighbourhood sustainability and wellbeing

  • Public relations

  • Not-for-profit management

  • Human resources

  • Community networking and education

  • Fundraising and administration

  • Crop production

If this sounds like you, please get in touch to discuss how you can contribute.

Volunteers

Our volunteers come from all walks of life and are at the heart of the CSCGT.

Some of our volunteers come on ad-hoc basis, contributing their time and energy as required.

Others may come several times each week,  as part of a group, once or twice or as supported by a social service provider.

  • Weeding

  • Planting

  • Harvesting

Some of the mahi our volunteers may engage in:

  • Structure and tool maintenance

  • Potting

  • Area tidying and maintenance

  • Composting

  • Planting

  • Governance & fundraising

Come by one of our main working days on Thursday or Saturday between 10 am to 2 pm to learn how the crucial role our volunteers play in the CSCGT.

We are always looking for more volunteer workers. BYO gardening gloves. Lunch for workers is provided at 12 to 12.30pm on these days.

Volunteer
Volunteer

  • Flyer distribution

  • Helping with our seasonal markets

  • Event promotion

Community Supporters

Community Supporters include the many residents who drop off recyclables ( e.g. jars for pickling, kitchen waste etc.) to be used for producing value-added products like the pickles, chutneys and relishes we sell at our market days.

Three men working together in a garden, moving soil with a wheelbarrow and hand tools, surrounded by trees and houses.

By reusing consumables like jars that are generously donated by the community, we are helping to reduce our environmental footprint while supporting sustainable waste management practices. Reusing things like jars contributes towards reducing resource use and extraction and is part of the Three Rs in waste management - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and .

You can learn more about the Three Rs and the issues with large-scale industrialised resource use and extraction practices here.

Other ways residents support us is by donating, paying a Koha for plants or produce or supporting us at one of our seasonal market days. Through their support we can pay for essential costs like electricity, internet, raw materials, building and structure maintenance, security and computer upgrades and wages. Running a community garden can be costly and we are deeply grateful for all the support we receive from our community partners.

The positive feedback we receive from residents is encouraging and enables us to continue to be reflexive and adaptive in our practice.

We constantly stive to be a productive and valuable resource that benefits residents while upholding our Kaupapa. Through the generous support of the community, we able to fulfil our mission statement of “supporting neighbourhood sustainability by building community and sharing skills across three key areas: crop production, skill development, and community wellbeing.”