$20k fund to honour Vercoe

Kristin Macfarlane | 8th February 2010

Former Environment Bay of Plenty councillor Hawea Vercoe died from a brain injury after he was punched to the ground as he left a Whakatane bar on November 22.

His death, over which a 21-year-old man faces a murder charge, shocked Rotorua and the wider Bay of Plenty community.

A school principal seen as a future leader by Te Arawa, Mr Vercoe had a passion for the environment, education, Maori and te reo, and people who share that passion may be eligible for financial help from a new fund established in his memory.

Mr Vercoe's family have told The Daily Post they are touched by the gesture and believe he would have been "pretty chuffed" about it too.

The Environment Bay of Plenty fund approved to commemorate the former Okurei constituency councillor will be called He Matapuna Akoranga a Hawea Vercoe/The Hawea Vercoe Commemoration Fund.

It will make $20,000 available every year for two years and after that, funding will be sought through the 10-year plan process.

Regional council chairman John Cronin said the fund would reflect Mr Vercoe's passions.

He said the criteria for applying to the fund had yet to be finalised.

The regional council's Maori committee would look at what criteria to set and make a recommendation to Environment Bay of Plenty about how the money should be allocated, Mr Cronin said.

Mr Vercoe's mother, Rosalind Vercoe, said she was "very proud" of the gesture and believed her son would be equally impressed.

"We deem it an honour that they see that Hawea's life was worth commemorating," Mrs Vercoe said.

"I think he'd be pretty chuffed."

Mrs Vercoe said she hoped some of the work her son did would continue through others who received money from the fund.

Mr Vercoe's father, Waaka Vercoe, had written to the council about the move to set up the fund.

"I am deeply moved by this proposal and I am deeply touched by the gesture," he wrote.

Mr Cronin said the fund was a good way of highlighting the role Mr Vercoe played in the region.

"Hopefully the fund is a fitting way of recognising his passions in the region and gives significance to them."

The council's Maori committee will discuss the fund at its meeting on February 11 at Hariki Marae in Tauranga and will then report back to the council.