When kindness causes a problem, it can also offer a solution.
Following the mid-2025 flooding that caused devastating loss across the Tasman district, a combined church appeal for clothing and household items sparked a huge community response.
So huge, in fact, that donations quickly overwhelmed the immediate demand and left organisers with a new challenge: what to do with the thousands of items still stacked at Motueka’s Recreation Centre.
“That Saturday at the rec centre, we were all completely surprised by the tremendous willingness of the community to help and by the fact that the donated items arrived in numbers far exceeding our expectations,” organiser Dieter Brandsch says. “We faced a logistical problem, as the hall in the rec centre had to be empty again by Sunday afternoon.”
With the knowledge that many families would need support for weeks to come, members of the town’s volunteer Flood Relief Hub contacted Thomas Bros Orchards, who offered an empty coolstore to house the estimated 60 banana boxes of clothing, shoes and household items.
Dieter says that over the next eight months, flood-affected citizens and families in need have been able to choose what they have needed from the organised array of donations.
With the apple harvest beginning last week, the coolstore space was once again needed, and the remaining 20 boxes of goods were packed up and collected by Motueka’s Salvation Army Family Store.
Dieter offers a “huge thanks” to Steve from Thomas Bros for his support.
The orchard’s human resources manager, Lara Bradford, says helping out felt like the obvious thing to do.
“We’re a small close-knit community, and when people are doing it tough you step in where you can,” she says. “A lot of our team have lived experience of natural disasters back home, so there was a real sense of empathy and urgency around helping families who’d been affected here.”
Lara calls the response from the community “pretty humbling” and says the amount of donations that came through showed how much people genuinely wanted to help.
“It was really special to be part of something that had such a practical, tangible impact.”
