The Awatere Valley Trust was formed last year when we wanted to raise our communities morale and involve them in activities and decision making. We have two main focuses. One is beautifying our village which has the state highway, the main trunk line and wastelands in the middle of it. We have begun to enhance our surroundings by doing an irrigated "Tui to Town" project with 600 native plants, a path and seating. It already has made a difference to how our village looks and how we feel about it. We have more projects we would like to do. The other focus is getting people to socialize and come out of their homes to attend gatherings which they can have input into. We encourage people to be themselves and join in. Loneliness is something we want to banish. A group called CARS formed last year. People come to play games, do crafts together and most of all, socialize. Then there are other activities such as the weekly drive into Blenheim for aqua exercise. We work with and assist other community good organizations. We feel, together everyone achieves more. We run on a shoe string budget with wonderful volunteers but it would be nice to have some funds to achieve the other dreams we have.