Community Resources Whakatāne (CReW) is a community reuse centre, focused on diverting re-useable resources from landfill, offering local employment and training opportunities and waste minimisation education. As a self-sufficient non-profit, dwindling foot traffic since the pandemic was putting pressure on their financial reserves. They reached out to the Community Comms Collective for help to turn that around.
CReW’s Business Manager at the time, Gerard McCormack, says the team needed some assistance to get people coming back through their doors. Talking through their needs and goals with Community Comms Collective matchmaker Penny Elliot, they identified some key areas a volunteer could support.
“We agreed we’d find a volunteer to work with Gerard to help refresh CReW’s key messages, develop messaging for a radio advertisement, craft copy for new signage, create talking points for media and put a simple social media plan together,” says Penny.
She matched Micah Aquino Diaz to the project, who says she agreed to take it on because it offered her the opportunity to apply her skills and experience across different media, to collaborate with a team that aligns with her interests and values, and contribute to a project that could have a positive impact on the community.
Gerard says Micah and the Community Comms Collective brought professionalism to PR that as a small organisation they were unable to afford. “I feel the best gift was giving us the tools for an effective strategy and confidence to implement the strategy once our time had run out.”
After getting a boost of comms support, Gerard says their customer numbers increased both donation and purchases.
“Importantly for us, the community is talking and engaging with CReW – we’re seeing lots of comments on Facebook posts saying ‘Have you tried CReW’, ‘CReW will have it’, ‘I’ve seen it in CReW’. We now have a presence on local radio and are also drawing in other organisations who are seeking to work with us which is great.”
He says positive communication within the community is very important for CReW, their brand and what they are seeking to achieve with reducing and reusing waste to landfill.
“The main thing was giving us the confidence to get on and do the PR and tools to enable us to do it well.”
Micah says aside from broadening her experience from traditional media to digital media/social platforms, she also gained a sense of fulfilment from volunteering.
“As a newcomer to New Zealand, I signed up because I wanted to gain local experience, boost my productivity, and connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about making a difference through communications.
She says Gerard and his team had amazing ideas, they just needed a little push to bring them to life.
“It feels great to use my skills for a good cause, and it’s totally rewarding to see how small efforts could have a big impact on an organisation.
CReW is a self sufficient, non-profit, community re-use centre based in Whakatāne.
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