This planting event felt special for several reasons. Fifteen people gathered from a range of church communities, including some who were joining us for the first time after being invited through work.

Selwyn Yeoman, who recently relocated from Dunedin, was greeted by people who had known him from his student days in Auckland in the 1970s, as well as others who had themselves been students in Dunedin. It was a wonderful reminder of what it means to speak of A Rocha as a family.

The group set about planting more than 200 carex plants and a variety of forest trees along the banks and floodplain of Alexandra Stream. All the plants came from a nursery developed by Nicholas Mayne at his home near the reserve.

Perhaps most importantly, we took time to remember, through stories and prayer, the legacy of Rev Jim Hunt. Jim died recently at the age of 99. He had been an ardent advocate for Christian creation care and a supporter of A Rocha from our earliest days in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We planted a kauri in gratitude and hope—a fitting symbol of someone who lived for a vision far greater than the span of his own life.