Awhina House overwhelmed by donations after burglary

He Kaupapa Kotahitanga Trust Tauranga chairwoman Angela Wallace. Photo/File

The organisers of Awhina House have been blown away by the community support for the women's homeless shelter after it was burgled before it was even open to those in need.

"It's amazing to see the community stepping up ... obviously, people want to see our homeless women cared for and with somewhere safe to go," He Kaupapa Kotahitanga Trust Tauranga chairwoman Angela Wallace said.

Thieves broke into the property around January 17, taking the washing machine, lawnmower, power tools and garden equipment.

The shelter was still being set up when the opportunists hit and security cameras had been scheduled to be installed.

Although the shelter did have insurance, the excess was $1000 which would have been a challenge for the shelter to cover on its own.

After the donations rolled in - ranging from $5 to $1000 - Awhina House has enough money to cover the excess and also pay for installation of the planned security cameras and new locks around the property.

Over the weekend ending Sunday, February 3, the shelter received 11 donations totalling $2520.

In addition to the flood of donations, Wallace said they received offers to replace the stolen items but since their insurance covered this the offers were passed on to other men's homeless shelters.

She said they were aiming for Tauranga to be a "city of kindness". While she thought that sentiment had always been present, being involved with Awhina House had made that apparent.

A police media spokesperson said police had completed a forensic scene examination which had not picked up any further lines of inquiry at this point.

The police urged anyone with useful information to get in touch.