Recreate NZ

22/12/2025

🗣️“With every Illuminate Market, we’re building a community that recognises the strength of diverse, creative minds. Illuminate is about challenging limiting perceptions and supporting financial independence through entrepreneurship and inclusive employment.” Sarah Ferens, Head of Moxie for Recreate NZ.

🗓️ Illuminate Market 2026 is coming soon - save the date! 🗓️
Saturday 28th March, 4pm - 8pm | Mt Albert, Auckland

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18/12/2025

Thank you to all our wonderful participants, facilitators, volunteers, operations staff, parents and family members, funders and supporters who made 2025 one to remember.

2025 has been a year of even more growth, more programmes and more young people coming through the doors, and we really look forward to exciting things in 2026!

We hope you have a wonderful summer break over Christmas and New Years, and we look forward to opening our doors again from 5th January 2026.

17/12/2025

We love to celebrate the end the year with you at our annual Christmas Party, with secret santa, good food, photo booth and good music.

We hope you enjoyed it too!

Our venue was the Mount Albert War Memorial Hall, and we will be returning here in March 2026 for the next Illuminate Market, watch this space for a teaser video for this event very soon.

And keep an eye out for our 2025 wrapped video tomorrow, showcasing all our highlights from this year!

16/12/2025

Thank you for all your feedback so far!

We completely understand this is a hectic time of the year, but if you happened to have 15 minutes spare, please consider completing this survey.

This survey is a great way for us to see what we are doing well, and where we can improve. Entries can be anonymous, but if you enter your email address, you will go into the draw to win a $100 Our Harvest Prize pack!

Please click the link below

Many thanks,

From the team at Recreate NZ

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DMVZKPZ

16/12/2025

Happy Holidays from the 2025 Moxie Crew!

It’s been a productive year for planting, maintenance, skill development and harvesting across all our Moxie programmes this year.

We’ve seen beautiful brassicas, beetroot, nutrient rich leafy greens, the new Recreate kitchen and garden and the arrival of wee Septimus the calf.

Now we’re into a bumper season of strawberries, tomatoes and hopefully the first crop of stone fruit. Huge thank you to Pots of Joy who provide all our lovely seedlings and to the wonderful interns and volunteers, we couldn’t do it without you.

Wish our orchard and gardens luck over the hot summer!

14/12/2025

We are filled with so much gratitude for this generous group of funders who support Recreate NZ here in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland and across Aotearoa.

Through this support, we are able to produce our range of programmes for the many young people who make Recreate NZ a big part of their lives.

Thank you!

1. Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust and Jenkins Foundation for supporting our Kitchen Project completed September 2025

2. Sky City He Tupu for supporting our Auckland-based programmes

3. Lion Foundation for supporting staff wages for our Waikato and Bay of Plenty teams, as well as contributing to our National Operations

4. Tyree NZ for generously donating to our organisation

5. IHC Foundation for supporting our Moxie Work Experience and Employment offerings

6. Lottery Community Fund for supporting our national operations

7. Simplicity Foundation for supporting our Moxie Employment offerings

11/12/2025

📣 We are beyond excited to announce the return of our annual Illuminate Market in 2026 - with a refreshed visual identity that puts creativity and inclusion centre stage! 🤩

The new Illuminate look is inspired by the bright, illuminating colours of brain MRIs. Just as these scans reveal diverse brain functions, the design symbolises individuality, creativity, and the unique ways people experience the world.

Illuminate Market is a true celebration of possibility, showcasing the incredible entrepreneurial talents of our community. A space where empowered inclusion comes to life, and the richness of our diverse minds is recognised and celebrated. Illuminate is the vibrant, socially inclusive world we want to see!

Join us once again for a joyful community event featuring market stalls, food trucks, free live performances, creative workshops and fun activities for all ages.

🗓️ #𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲 🗓️
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻: Saturday 28th March, 4pm - 8pm
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: Mt Albert War Memorial Park & Reserve, Auckland

Illuminate Market 2026 is proudly brought to you by Recreate NZ, with funding support from Spectrum Foundation and Albert-Eden Local Board.

𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘁: https://www.recreate.org.nz/illuminate

11/12/2025

We hope you are all having a great time with us during these summery, fun programmes across the country. Our Programme Coordinators and Facilitators are busily managing an incredible amount of Holiday Programmes, Urbans and the remaining Getaways for 2025, with the huge excitement around our Christmas parties either taking place very soon, or have just taken place!

We have a bit to get through in this news update including:

- Our Annual Survey for 2025, we would love to see your feedback
- Staffing news, very exciting announcement!
- Office closures for summer
- New cancellation Policy reminder

Please read through by clicking the link below, and enjoy!

From the team at Recreate NZ

1.A 20% cancellation fee to be charged for cancellation within exactly 7 days and 24 hours before programme commencement.

09/12/2025

Keeping active through summer, this time indoors at !

Today for our Auckland Holiday Programme we are enjoying the outdoors at !

The good times keep rolling

08/12/2025

This was truly a Getaway to remember! We enjoyed 4 summery days on Moturoa Island in the Bay of Islands to end November, where so much fun was had!

Many thanks to Bay of Islands Water Taxi for taking us to and from the island, and to our generous hosts!

Today marks the start of our December Holiday Programme, and we can't wait for our Christmas parties across the country very soon!

🎉🎉🎉

03/12/2025

At the start of summer and the lead in to Christmas, and to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities today, we have plenty of delicious Our Harvest products on offer at Recreate NZ in Ellerslie!

These products are made by our Product Making group in our very own Recreate kitchen, and we are very proud of these creations!

Next time you pop in and say hi, take a look at what we have on the Our Harvest shelf and purchase these stocking fillers for yourself, friends or family.

**Special**

1x 300g Zucchini Relish + 1x 300g Feijoa Chutney for $18 – perfect for your summer cheese platters!

Feijoa BBQ sauce $5 each – short dated but well preserved and still delicious!

Lemon Syrup $10 each – Zesty summer lemonade and mocktails.

Beetroot & Orange Chutney, 200g $8 each – Seriously delicious in burgers.

Zucchini Relish, 300g $10 – One of the most popular Our Harvest products, get in quick!

Jams

Feijoa, Plum, Quince or Strawberry, Rhubarb & Rose jams, 200g $8 (or 2 for $12) – Add to your pavlova, trifle or delicious on pancakes and with cheese!