Waimarino rest home trustees disappointed

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 557, 11 October 1994, Page 8

Waimarino rest home trustees disappointed

The Waimarino Rest Home trustees are disappointed their application for funds from the Ruapehu Masonic Association Trust has been declined. The Waimarino group had hoped to gain a sympathetic response because the late Fred Honore, who lived most of his working life in Raetihi had bequeathed $970,00 to the Masonic Trust and Presbyterian Social Services. After the 1987 stock market crash, the capital was reduced to $750,000. From the interest on this capital the Trust recei ves about $30,000 annually, making it self-sufficient for administrative costs. "While the Ruapehu Masonic Association Trust had achieved great results with Masonic Courts being established in Wanganui, Palmerston North, Taihape and Foxton we felt it would be fitting that some of the Honore bequest was invested in the Waimarino Rest Home Trust," committed member Jeremy Nash said. The Waimarino Rest Home trustees are Bob Peck (chairman), Don Hancock (secretary), Bill Peach, Dorothy Scarrow, Dorothy McNie, Faith Wise, Nancy Wood, Jeremy Nash (recently co-opted) and Raymond Berry representing the Ruapehu District Council. In the few years since it was formed, the trust has raised $50,000 towards the establishing of a rest home for the Waimarino in Raetihi. At present, with what used to be the Waimarino Hospital down-graded to a health centre, long-term patients and elderly people needing bed-care have to go to Taihape, Wanganui or Taumarunui. This causes trauma and stress for the person involved and for their families; ties are broken and family support missed. The Wanganui Rest Home Trust is also concerned that the Irwin bequest given to the then Waimarino Hospital may have been used out of the district. Such money would help provide a home for the elderly of the Waimarino in the Waimarino.