A call for furniture to help Edgecumbe flood victims has been so well received in Tauranga, organisers are now pleading for help to collect it all.
Rise Up Tauranga, spurred on by the Bethlehem and Te Puna Lions Club, has been collecting donated furniture at the Cargo Shed on Dive Cres and will continue to do so until the end of the month.
Truckloads of furniture have already been delivered to residents to help rebuild their lives after the devastation caused by raging floodwaters on April 6, when the Rangitaiki River burst its banks and swamped the town. In the weeks after, Rise Up Tauranga began the collection.
But organisers have since been so overwhelmed with donations they had not taken into account the offers flooding in which require pick-up from people's homes.
Rise Up Tauranga community organiser Rosalie Liddle Crawford said their biggest need right now was people and trailers to pick up the offers of donated furniture from around the city.
"When we first started this, we didn't make provisions for that. But we've had floods of those requests," she said.
Ms Liddle Crawford said it would be ideal if they could arrange teams of three to four people with a trailer to go around with a list of addresses for a few hours a day to pick up the furniture and deliver it to the Cargo Shed.
Staff from Modern Office were among the crew of volunteers helping and had already done a run of pick ups.
Ms Liddle Crawford said Modern Office donated two trucks and four people to help and managed to fill one truck after the very first house they visited.
"It would be wonderful if we could have lots of teams," she said.
Lions member Bernie Allen said he'd spent about 30 hours a week at the shed helping get the donated furniture to Edgecumbe residents, even if some won't get a chance to enjoy it until the end of the year.
"Some of those houses that are uninhabitable and won't be ready until Christmas time," he said.
Residents could have their pick of what would be suitable for them, and the furniture was then stored in a secure location until those people were able to return to their homes.
"What's happening is . . . we have had two truckloads of furniture go down already, and we've got about five truckloads in the shed already, another 80 to pick up, and we are getting phone calls all the time."
Mr Allen said the club was a "service club" and did the same kind of work after the Christchurch earthquake.
"We are here to help people."
Can you help?
* If you think you might be able to help pick up furniture please contact Ms Liddle Crawford on rosalie@topshelfdesign.com. If you have furniture you would like to donate; please deliver it to the Cargo Shed between 11am to 3pm on Dive Cres.