The donning of gumboots and the delivery of some home baking by the Westpac Agribusiness team has left smiles on the faces of the residents of Puniwhakau.
Puniwhakau resident Graham Candy says he and his neighbours "want to say a big thank you to the Agribusiness team at Westpac New Plymouth," who came out to offer physical help to the small community following the floods and slips in June.
Although Puniwhakau didn't make the news, we suffered severe flooding and slips which closed our road and limited access to neighbours for four days. Limited power and no phone lines added to the distress of the locals of the valley.
However on Friday, June 26, seven staff from Agribusiness Westpac decided to leave their comfy air conditioned offices, don gumboots and overalls and drive the muddy slippery roads to bring food, shovels and can do attitude to the flood stricken farmers."
Graham says while several residents of the small community are Westpac customers, not all are, "but they delivered small parcels to non Westpac customers and brought out some home baking for lunch for the valley".