Future looks bright again thanks to new home

“This place has given me the chance to get back on my feet. It’s meant I’ve fully brought the value of work back into my life again,’’ says Amye.

Amye spent much of her twenties working in Australia, but her life took an unexpected turn when she moved to Mosgiel to support her sister and niece through some personal struggles. Further changes in her sister’s life meant Amye was left to look after her niece by herself.

“It was a massive thing for me to suddenly be looking after a teenager! But I knew I had to carry on and do the best I could for the sake of my sister,” Amye says.

When her niece eventually left home, she began to ponder her own next steps.

“I decided it was time to put myself first again. I always like to feel useful, to feel like I’m contributing to something and that’s what I had been missing.

“I needed to get back to where I was before all of that, and that’s when I came across the ‘The Bowling Club’ in Dunedin,” Amye explains.

A community eatery, The Bowling Club is an affordable food organisation providing cheap, wholesome meals to the people of Dunedin. Having grown from humble beginnings in a food truck to a full-scale operation, The Bowling Club was in need of extra hands at the time Amye was itching to start working again.

“They liked me and I started helping them out so I could get back in the groove of working. I was stoked, I had a purpose in life again.”

The Bowling Club was well-suited to Amye’s skillset – previously she had worked as a deli service manager - and she thrived being amongst food preparation processes again and interacting with the people who visited the Club for belly-warming goodness.

But it’s a recent move to a new Kāinga Ora home in Dunedin, that’s been even more life-changing.

“Because my lovely new home is closer to The Bowling Club I’ve been able to commit to more hours there and get more involved in the day-to-day running of the place.”

Her work ethic and drive to get daily tasks done were quickly recognised and Amye has recently been offered paid work and more hours at the Club.

Reflecting on this, Amye is glowing about what her new Kāinga Ora home has done for her.

“I’m excited for the future for the first time in a while. I’m now The Bowling Club’s Front of House Manager – something I never would’ve entertained if it wasn’t for the way my life has changed thanks to this home.

“And I can’t wait to have my first Christmas here!”

Amye is loving her work at The Bowling Club