Ten rural community hubs across New Zealand will soon receive $10,000 to upgrade their facilities having been selected as the winners of Rabobank’s Good Deeds Community Hub Competition.
The competition – which ran throughout March – was open to all rural community halls, clubrooms and marae across New Zealand and attracted well over 250 entries.
Rabobank New Zealand CEO Todd Charteris said this year’s competition was an amalgamation of the Rabobank Good Deeds competition, which has run annually since 2017 in conjunction with The Country radio show, and the Rabo Community Hub competition, which ran for the first time last year and was initiated by the bank’s Client Council network.
“Given both competitions focused on supporting rural community projects, we made the decision to merge them together this year to create the Rabobank Good Deeds Community Hub competition,” he said.
The $100,000 total prize money for the competition will be drawn from the Rabo Community Fund – a fund set up in 2021 and backed by an annual contribution from the Rabobank Group. The funding will be used by competition winners for work that improves the interior or exterior of their nominated hall, clubrooms or marae.
Te Miro Settlers Hall - Rabobank's 2026 Good Deeds Community Hub Competition Overall winner
2026 Good Deeds Community Hub Competition winners
Te Miro Settlers Hall - Good Deeds winner
Raglan Surf Lifesaving Club
Pongakawa Community Hub
Poukawa Hall
Whangamōmona Public Hall
Waikaka Combined Sports Complex
Southern Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP) Community Hub – Winton
Hororātā Community Hall
Cheviot Combined Sports Club Incorporated
Riversdale Rugby Club
Mr Charteris said Te Miro Settlers Hall (located near Cambridge) had been selected as the overall competition grand prize winner and, on top of the $10,000 cash, would also receive a day’s labour support from the teams at Rabobank and The Country.
“I’ve taken part in several of the labour days for previous Good Deeds competition winners, and they’re always fantastic events that bring the whole community together,” he said.
“The local Rabo team always gets stuck in and plenty gets done, and I’ve no doubt the Waikato team will do the same when the working bee at Te Miro Settlers Hall takes place at some stage later this year.”
The difficult task of selecting the 10 competition winners was undertaken by members of Rabobank’s four client councils, with each council selecting the winners from their respective region.
Rabobank Upper North Island Client Council Chair Tam Jex-Blake said rural community hubs play a key role in rural communities, and this was backed up by the competition entries.
“The entries highlighted that rural community hubs are being used for a massive array of different events and activities and, in many cases, these facilities are being used by multiple groups each day,” she said.
“It was very clear from the volume of entries that there are a large number of rural community hubs in need of funding support to carry out upgrades, and this did make it extremely difficult to select the winners.”
Mrs Jex-Blake – who is an owner of Mangapoike Limited, a 18,000 sheep and beef farming business located 50km south-west of Gisborne – said while the selection process had proven tricky, the overall competition winner – Te Miro Settlers Hall – did stand out amongst the batch of entries form the Upper North region.
“All 10 members of our Client Council were unanimous in their decision to select Te Miro Settlers Hall as one of the winners, as the entry showcased the key role the facility plays in the Te Miro community,” she said.
“The hall itself is frequently used by the children from the adjacent Te Miro school. It also serves as the base for tennis, table tennis, dance, and judo clubs, as well as being hired out for community social events and initiatives including Ag Day, quiz nights, and for community forums to discuss predator trapping projects to support the long-term reintroduction of kiwi to the district.”
“The hall committee intend to use the competition prize winnings to replace a broken LPG heating system with a much more efficient heat pump system, while the labour support will be utilised for gardening, planting natives on the hall grounds, and to sand and paint the nearby children’s playground.”
With so much to do, Mrs Jex-Blake said, the Upper North Island Client Council were also keen to help out with the working bee.
“It sounds like it will be a busy day, and plenty of our Client Council members are planning to be there to lend a hand.”
Mr Charteris said the Good Deeds Community Hub competition was part of the broader work the bank was doing alongside its Client Councils to grow and strengthen rural communities.
“Our Client Councils bring strong insight into the challenges facing rural communities throughout New Zealand, and we remain committed to working alongside them to shape initiatives, strategies and ideas that support and strengthen farming and rural communities,” he said.
“Since establishing the Rabo Community Fund in 2021, we’ve committed more than $4 million into rural community projects, and we’re incredibly proud of the positive impact this support is delivering across rural New Zealand.”