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Donations going to support cyclone victims By CHRIS HARROWELL
Helping to sort through Cyclone Gabrielle donations at Botany MP Christopher Luxon’s local electorate office were, from left, volunteer Rob Tuckey, Botany Youth MP Aryan Bhatnagar, and staffers Lisa Ambridge and Katja Kershaw. Times photo Chris Harrowell
Generous east Auckland residents have donated thousands of dollars’ worth of food and other items that will be sent to people impacted by the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle. The goods were collected and sorted at Botany MP and National Party leader Christopher Luxon’s local electorate office on February 17. Among the donations were rice, pasta, canned food, children’s pyjamas, shampoo, sanitary products, toilet paper, soaps,
toothbrushes and toothpaste, among others. Luxon’s staff members Katja Kershaw and Lisa Ambridge were helped with the sorting process by Botany Youth MP Aryan Bhatnagar and volunteer Rob Tuckey. Kershaw says: “We put a call out to Botany electorate members and constituents at midday on February 16. “We told them the main things we needed were food, children’s pyjamas, and toiletries, and we sent it out to key people and organisations and contacts and it went viral.”
One generous person donated 100 pairs of brand new footwear and Asian food stores in the community also stepped up. “It’s an overwhelming response and people really want to help,” Kershaw says. Ambridge adds: “People are desperate to help but they weren’t sure how they could and this has given them an opportunity to do that.” The donated items are being passed to a charity which will arrange for them to be distributed to people impacted by the cyclone.
LUXON PRAISES RESPONSE By CHRIS HARROWELL
C
hristopher Luxon says the community-led response to Cyclone Gabrielle shows Kiwis “at their best”. The Botany MP and National Party leader visited the Civil Defence Centre set up at the Fencible Lounge, beside Howick Library, on February 15. He was joined by Pakuranga MP and the party’s Auckland issues
spokesperson, Simeon Brown. The centre in Uxbridge Road was established as a safe space for east Auckland residents who needed to evacuate their homes as a result of the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. They would have been provided with stretcher beds, blankets, food, water, access to welfare support agencies, and psychosocial support. It was the only Civil Defence
Centre in the Howick ward. Luckily, no one needed to evacuate to the centre as the area avoided the extensive damage Cyclone Gabrielle caused to other parts of the North Island. Luxon spoke with to the centre’s staff and volunteers to learn about their roles and the help they were ready to provide. Among them was a New Zealand Defence Force soldier and Karen Inns, manager of client service
delivery at the Ministry of Social Development’s Highland Park branch. Luxon told the Times during his visit it’s important for him, as a local MP, to see what’s happening across the electorate and support his constituents. “As I did last week [during the previous storm] getting out and about to the front line. “Seeing the suffering people are going through is really important.
“Simeon is leading as our Auckland issues spokesperson as well so he’s got responsibilities here in east Auckland.” Luxon says he and Brown want to make sure they can get a good grip on what’s happening across the city and what people’s needs are. They’ve seen people doing it “incredibly tough” in some areas, he says. Continued on page 5
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