Community Supporting Community: Happiness House
Happiness House is a community-based non-profit organisation that provides services to the Whakatipu district. From community activities and a place to connect to offering support and advocacy, it offers a warm, welcoming and inclusive homelike environment, open to the whole community.
There’s always something happening from regular cooking classes and frisbee golf to a gardening group and regular one-off events. Cook Around the World is an ongoing interactive cooking series centred around celebrating Queenstown’s diverse cultures. Each fortnight participants will get to explore the world through food, learn some new skills and more about a different culture.
During each session a local guest chef from Queenstown’s multicultural community will guide you through the preparation of traditional dishes from their home country. You’ll gain insights into the cooking techniques, spices and cultural traditions tied to the meal. With many sessions featuring multiple recipe, you can get hands-on in the kitchen (as much or as little as you like!), learn authentic recipes, and share a warm, communal meal with fellow food lovers. Countries visited in the past include Wales, Samoa, Malaysia, Chile, and Uruguay. Spaces are limited due to the kitchen size, so be sure to register through Humanitix.
The Frisbee Golf Social Group is another regular fixture on the calendar. Every second Wednesday from 11am – 1pm the group meets at Happiness House before heading to Queenstown Gardens. It’s a relaxed way to get outdoors, meet people and have some fun. Post game there’ll be tea, coffee and snacks to share. No registration is needed – whether you’ve played before or this is your first time, you’ll be made to feel at home.
The garden group runs on Thursdays, 10am – 12pm, with no experience needed, just bring yourself and be a part of something with purpose. You’ll tend, weed, learn, laugh, and help the community garden grow.
If you’re looking for something beyond attending events, you can also volunteer at Happiness House. Whether it is assisting them putting donations into the op-shop, greeting and having conversations with visitors or helping them organise special events and projects – without volunteers they would not be able to offer such a wide range of support for the community.
You can stay up-to-date with all the happenings at Happiness House through happinesshouse.org.nz and their Facebook page.
