Jenny Bartlett, the first winner of council’s quarterly e-rates sign up competition, will be using her $2500 windfall to take time away from her sewing machine for a well-deserved holiday.
Retired for two years, the busy 64-year-old Mairangi Bay grandmother of nine is renowned for her almost non-stop sewing for good causes. This includes linings for pepi-pods which assist vulnerable babies to sleep safely to help prevent sudden unexpected death.
“Someone referred to me as the crazy sewing lady and it just stuck,” she says.
Jenny is grateful for businesses that offer free sewing materials for her to work with. In a recent tally of her output she worked out she’d produced about 5000 different items since retiring.
The former women’s health physiotherapist at North Shore Hospital where she worked for 32 years retains a strong work ethic. “It seems as soon as one project ends another falls into my lap,” she laughs.
When OurAuckland talked to her she’d just returned from her first two-hour stint volunteering at the North Shore Resource Centre where businesses and residents recycle still-usable items rather than let them take up space in a landfill.
“It’s great to see unwanted stuff come in and then go back out again to be put to good use,” she says.
How to win
Ratepayers who opt to pay their rates by direct debit and receive their bills by email are automatically entered into a quarterly draw, which runs until May 2017.
The prize money is sponsored by ASB Bank.
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