When our Retailer, Pam Holmes at GAS Maungatapere heard about local school kids walking long distances along the Mangakahia Road to get to the school bus stop she instantly felt terrified for them, “It didn’t sit right with me, there’s so many trucks driving along that road ” she says, “I was driving around talking to myself saying I have to do something about this”. Not long after she’d bought a mini-van and swung into action.

Pam has now added two school runs into the weekday routine, the van will pick children up from their home and deliver them to the bus stop and will be there waiting for them as they arrive off the bus in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, Pam does this for free, or where affordable, a small donation. GAS Head Office offered to get the van sign written, which delighted Pam however she was very specific (and community-minded) about what she wanted included in the design. She told us that we must incorporate the beautiful mural that the pupils at Maungatapere School made for above the entrance into the shop (seen on the left) and also the locally iconic, ‘Brutus’. Brutus first came to Pam’s attention when he arrived at the shop next door. She says “I feel in love with him and couldn’t to see him leave the community—so I had him mounted in front of the forecourt and told the accountant it was a birthday present for me and the community!