The village of Takuvaine gratefully received $20,550 through the efforts of a radiothon held last month to raise funds for the 200-year Arrival of the Gospel Bicentennial celebrations to Rarotonga which will be held in July.

Tekura Potoru, the Pu Tapere (chairman) of Takuvaine, said the funds will be used to renovate “Te Kapuanga o te Evangelia” – the village meeting house for the upcoming Gospel celebrations on July 25.

“There is a stone where Papehia first preached the Christian message on the road near the meeting house which is how the meeting place got its name,” said Potoru.

“This is where the Gospel started, right here in Rarotonga. So we thought to renovate it.

“The programme on the day (July 25) will start at the Avarua harbour where Papehia arrived and will parade through to the rock, it will be a huge event.”

Papehia was an evangelist of the London Missionary Society (LMS) trained by John Williams. He converted the islands of Aitutaki and Rarotonga to Christianity.

Potoru said the new septic tanks for Te Kapuanga o te Evangelia have been completed and more renovations to the building is expected to start next week.

Last month a big fundraiser was held in the village selling plates of food which raised $12,000.

The cost of renovating the meeting house came to $164,000, however, Potoru said they needed $200,000 in case extra costs came up to finish the build completely.

“We would like to thank the landowners Ngati-Karika for their gifting of the land for the oire for the village, and we would like to thank everyone who contributed in raising these funds,” Potoru said.

Nga Teao-Papatua, the island’s radiothon announcer for over 30 years, said she was amazed at the amount of money that was raised considering there are other fundraising events happening on the island.

“For the first time, within the first 10 minutes $3000 was raised,” said Teao-Papatua.

“This is a good role model of a radiothon and I am touched, compared to other radiothons this has been one of the best.”

She would like to encourage people who would like to do a radiothon in the future to prepare and get their community and groups to support the cause and also participate in it.

 “We know everyone is busy; people were also giving because of the cause.

“Every time I sit at the radio for over six hours hosting a radiothon, I feel the Lord helping us,” said Teao-Papatua.

The opening of the Takuvaine Meeting House is planned for July 7 which falls on Ui Ariki Day – a public holiday.