VANESSA LAURIE/Things
A group of volunteers has been cleaning up the cemetery in honor of Gabby Devine for more than a year.
Volunteers plan to follow the lead of a Taranaki teen who devoted the last years of her life to helping others.
Gabby Devine was 13 when she died of Ewing’s sarcoma from bone cancer in May 2015, but during her hospital stay and out of the hospital, she started a charity, Starlit Hope, to perform random acts of kindness.
VANESSA LAURIE/Things
Sarah and Roland Devine noticed how overgrown parts of the cemetery were and asked the council for help.
And that’s what the “Awanui Angels” volunteer group plans to do to improve the New Plymouth Awanui Cemetery where Gabby was laid to rest.
Marie Riordan, manager of Volunteering New Plymouth, worked with Councilor Sam Bennett to get the group together after Gabby’s parents noticed parts of the grounds surrounding their daughter’s resting place were becoming overgrown.
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The Angels – Yvonne Read, Wendy Richards, Vicki Erueti, Julie Bonde, Dennis Gooch, Sue Maetzig and Susan Macdonald – met for the first time earlier this month and have plans to regularly refurbish the area.
“We’re not allowed to touch any of the headstones because that’s private property, but we can prune and weed around the headstones,” Riordan said.
“It will be very special anyway.”
VANESSA LAURIE/Things
Sarah and Roland Devine say the angels’ work will make it easier to leave Gabby after each visit, knowing she is well taken care of.
Gabby’s parents, Sarah and Roland Devine, said they were delighted that the group members would volunteer their time.
“We like to come and do things with our lot, but what they’re doing here is separate from that, because it actually takes care of the municipal area and the surrounding stuff as well,” Sarah said.
“It’s so good because now you know it will be taken care of.”
Sarah said it was always difficult to visit Gabby and know that she had to “leave her behind”, but she was grateful to the angels and the wider community for continuing her daughter’s mission.
VANESSA LAURIE/Things
The Awanui Angels will be cleaning, gardening and keeping things in shape at Awanui Cemetary in New Plymouth. From left: Councilor Sam Bennett, Gabby Devine’s parents Sarah and Roland Devine, Marie Riordan, Manager of Volunteers New Plymouth, Yvonne Read, Lead Volunteer, Wendy Richards, Administrator of Volunteers New Plymouth, Vicki Erueti and Julie Bond. (Dennis Gooch, Sue Maetzig and Susan Macdonald were absent.)
“It brings me to tears. I feel so emotional about it that people really care.
“They show kindness to others and all other people who are here with grief.”
Roland said it was heartwarming to see the support for them as a family, as well as the support for the rest of the community.
“They’ll feel good doing something like that because it’s so special for all the people who come here.”