{"id":317648,"date":"2026-03-07T12:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/317648\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T12:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:42:16","slug":"student-volunteer-army-thriving-15-years-on-from-quakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/317648\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Volunteer Army thriving 15 years on from quakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 300 university students descended on Christchurch’s Red Zone today to help restore land left empty by the city’s earthquakes. <\/p>\n

The young people are the latest generation to join the hugely successful volunteer movement, the Student Volunteer Army. <\/p>\n

New generation of student volunteers descend on Christchurch red zone – watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

The group, which became a symbol of hope after the quake, has continued to expand massively 15 years after the quake. <\/p>\n

Founder Sam Johnson says is there now 60,000 people in their database, with the group part of 258 secondary schools, seven universities and two states of Australia. <\/p>\n

\"Student<\/p>\n

Student Volunteer Army founder Sam Johnson. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at it as a legacy of the people who helped out after the earthquakes,” he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve managed to build it into something special and use a pretty simple model where people keep showing up and wanting to help.” <\/p>\n

Anyone watching the event unfold on Saturday could been forgiven a moment of deja vu. <\/p>\n

Footage from 2011 shows Johnson \u2013 a little younger and with longer hair \u2013 directing students on buses, where they headed out to dig silt from backyards. <\/p>\n

He told 1News at the time that they were “starting in Dallington”, one of the worst hit suburbs. <\/p>\n

On Saturday morning a whole new group of students were in the same carpark, piling into very similar looking busses. The destination? Dallington. <\/p>\n

\"It<\/p>\n

It was all smiles for these volunteers in Christchurch today. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Many were in preschool when the quake hit, but that did nothing to dent their enthusiasm. <\/p>\n

“So excited,” one said, smiling with her friend. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is actually our first time,\u201d another echoed nearby. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

When they arrived, the area that was once houses was now green paddocks, the demolition finished long ago. Work is underway to turn it into a forest. <\/p>\n

Students could be seen making their way through huge piles of mulch, spread to encourage the growth of native plants. <\/p>\n

Third-year electrical engineering student Flynn Turfrey-Rowe is one of the many organisers.<\/p>\n

\"Third-year<\/p>\n

Third-year electrical engineering student Flynn Turfrey-Rowe. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started planning the big year of this year back in November of last year, and we’ve been working throughout the summer over uni break, just sorting the mulch, sorting the food, the logistics, the transport, everything,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I can give back to the communities that have supported me, but also communities that need support as well.\u201d <\/p>\n

Like the leaders before him, he was run off his feet as he directed huge numbers of students in the work. <\/p>\n

\"Smiling<\/p>\n

Smiling students help to transform Christchurch’s red zone into lush forest. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Those students were having a great time, music playing as they worked with shovels, wheelbarrows and buckets. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love being part of it,\u201d one said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s something completely different to our study,\u201d another echoed. <\/p>\n

Their work is deeply appreciated by the custodians of the Red Zone, including the Christchurch City Council\u2019s red zone partnership ranger Sarah Mankelow. <\/p>\n

\"Christchurch<\/p>\n

Christchurch City Council\u2019s red zone partnership ranger Sarah Mankelow. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Red Zone is a huge space that we’re working to make recovery and gains in terms of habitat, and by having the students come out on mass means we can get a big job done with many hands,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

It seemed that after 15 years, they\u2019re just getting started. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got plenty of work for them to do,” Mankelow joked. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re always happy to have them here.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 300 university students descended on Christchurch’s Red Zone today to help restore land left empty by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158,8215,273,111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-317648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-christchurch-canterbury","9":"tag-earthquakes","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}