Woman Sets Up Donation Page To Help Restore Desecrated Child's Graves

One woman, who offered to make posies of flowers for the desecrated graves at Papakura Cemetery, has had offers of help from a commercial nursery and florists to restore the site to the "happy place of memory" for the families it once was.

It comes after three or four sections of the cemetery were damaged, including adornments being thrown around and damage to headstones.

Most of the damaged graves were of children and stillborn babies.

Early childhood teacher Carrie Lagerstedt, from Pukekohe, yesterday offered to "make as many posies as possible" for the children's graves.

She has since been inundated with offers, forcing her to set up a Givealittle page to manage the donations which will go to towards purchasing flowers and materials for the posies.

"It really turned into something large quite quickly," she said.

"I've had a really, really great response from the local businesses. I've had a response from a local grower, they're going to donate flowers, and one of the local florists has said she'll help me as well.

"Local businesses have been placing donation boxes on their shop counters, and a floristry student has said she can help me out. Friends have said, 'Hey, you can set it all up in my garage if you like', so everyone's been really lovely."

It was "heartening" to see how the community had "rallied around to support the families," she said.

"I can't even imagine how heartbreaking losing a child is, let alone having to go through all that."You see the children's grave sites and they're just so bright and happy, and they're just these wonderful places of memory and remembrance, and I just feel like I want them to go back to that, to go back to being the happy places of memory [they were before].

"It rises above what's happened, and it shows that the community is rising above and that we're helping those families rise above the negative, and that it goes back to being a peaceful resting place for the children and a peaceful place of remembrance for the families."

To donate to the flower fund go to: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/betterplace#

- NZME.

- Image: Dean Purcell