The project is the brainchild of two Corrections officers at Rolleston’s Kia Marama treatment unit, Tony Rushton and Pamela Boon, who came up with the idea.
The prison has several gardens producing food for prisoners, but some remained unharvested - particularly apples and pears. Tony and Pamela felt the surplus could be put to better use and so some of it was sent to the City Mission.
When Oderings Nurseries donated some 16,000 seedlings to the project it really took off. A large block of land has been broken in by about 15 prisoners who work most days in the garden.
“Part of the treatment for these men is work, and we like to keep them busy,” Pamela says. “The guys have really taken this on board, and they see it as a way of giving back to the community.”
City Mission food bank co-ordinator Margaret Weatherston says the Rolleston garden goes a long way towards meeting the need for fresh vegetables.
“We view this as a wonderful project. We believe in the capacity of people to change if they are treated with respect and given a chance.”
Mrs Weatherston says it complements a long-standing garden run at a City Mission property at Governor’s Bay, and another at Spencer Park that has been going for two years. The latter is tended by community probation workers. “But that’s only tended once a week, whereas the Rolleston prison garden is done almost every day.”
Rolleston Prison Principal Corrections Officer Pamela Boon in one of the prison gardens.
Photo and story courtesy of Challenge Weekly.
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