For more than four decades, one Christchurch Meals on Wheels volunteer driver has been making deliveries, meeting people at their doors and seeing firsthand the difference a hot meal – and a friendly face – can make.

To commemorate the 81st anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, Waiheke Red Cross hosted its second Paper Cranes for Peace event.

Every year on 20 June, we mark World Refugee Day to honour the courage of millions of people who have been forced to leave their homes. The day is also an opportunity to reaffirm our collective responsibility to ensure they are welcomed, included, and supported. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, events large and small were held to honour refugee-background communities, amplify their voices, and encourage connections.

People from refugee backgrounds bring diversity and cultural and social richness to communities and workplaces around Aotearoa New Zealand.

People like Elie Balyamhamwabo Zagabe, who is getting used to the new food, language and culture of Aotearoa New Zealand after 12 years in a refugee camp in Malawi. Elie and his family fled violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With his wife, Irene, and four children, the Zagabe family is embracing life in Masterton after arriving three months ago.

After nearly 60 years delivering Meals on Wheels, Elaine Utting, QSM, still isn’t ready to hang up the keys. The long-serving volunteer continues to deliver meals regularly in Auckland, driven by the same desire to help others that first inspired her to sign up in early 1967.