Just when you think community spirit is disappearing, you come across someone like 91-year-old Des Redican of Upper Hutt.
Every day, unless it's raining, Des sells hand-crafted toys outside the local kindy, Seven Sharp reported.
And it's not about the money.
In Wallaceville, Upper Hutt at dawn, a garage converted into a classic Kiwi workshop bursts into action as Des loads up his car with his hand-made toys, a rocking horse and a table among them.
Des drives just down the road to the Doris Nicholson Kindergarten and sets up shop outside, just as the sun comes over the Remutakas.
Everybody arriving at kindy knows Des as "Des the Toy Man", and he happily gives a youngster a ride on the rocking horse.
It all started when Des was hammered by some horrible news.
"After the wife died I was a bit lonely, the house was dead," he says.
So, he put his years of carpentry and empty workshop to use.
Then, kindergarten head teacher Deb Bird, says, "Des rocked in one day a couple of years ago and wondered if we wanted to buy any furniture we made."
"I said look, 'why don't you just set up and try to set up your furniture here? And he became part of our family really."
In many ways, the business is just a hobby.
"I can go weeks and weeks without selling anything, but it doesn't worry me," Des says.
Deb says: "We're not just a little part of his life, he's the community mascot in Upper Hutt."
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