Refuge gets a new kitchen

Angela Warren-Clark says the new kitchen looks beautiful, bringing a modern, fresh feel to the house. Photo / Ruth Keber

The Tauranga Women's Refuge safehouse has a new kitchen, thanks to a generous donation.

The outdated kitchen with stained wooden cabinets and a broken-down dishwasher was taken from the women's community safehouse recently after a Tauranga woman donated a new kitchen and local organisations removed the old and installed the new.

"It's looking beautiful," said Tauranga Women's Refuge manager Angela Warren-Clark standing in front of the new olive green cupboards.

"It was lots of hard work but it was seamless."

The changeover prompted the closure of the refuge for a weekend in September - a big effort in itself relocating and moving women and children to other locations.

"The house was so tired. The Lions were on site all weekend, painting and water blasting which has made it so much nicer. Now it has a new, fresh, clean, modern feel to it," Mrs Warren-Clark said.

"The ladies have been loving it. Loving the fact the dishwasher works. It's given the place a new lease of life and looks so much roomier."

Mrs Warren-Clark said the reason they had never been able to do the renovations themselves before came down to finances. "I have to fundraise to even pay the rent, to pay the power. We just weren't in a position to do it. But it was quite serendipitous a friend rang me one day and said there was a woman in the community who needed to change her kitchen for other reasons and she asked if we would like it."

About the same time, the Te Puna Bethlehem Lions contacted the refuge and said they would like to help with something, she said.

"It has made such a wonderful difference to the house and the visitors inside. But we couldn't have done it without all the hard work of those donated and came and helped out."

How you can help

* If you can assist the Tauranga Women's Refuge with any of the below items please phone (07) 541 1912 to organise drop off at the community centre.

* Food, canned food, cereals, frozen meat and vegetables, clothing, disposable nappies (all
ages), linen, toys, books, whiteware, household items, furniture and cleaning products.