Rising from homelessness: Bay residents help Tauranga mother with furniture

Janine Cork in her new home with all the furniture she could ever dream of. Photo / Leah Tebbutt

Instead of sitting on the floor of her lounge, with barely any cutlery to eat with, Janine Cork is spending her four weeks in lockdown stretched out on her new couch.

And it is due to the good spirit of the community that she is able to do so.

At the beginning of March, the Bay of Plenty Times shared Cork's story - for the first time in five years, the Tauranga woman and her 14-year-old son had a permanent roof over their heads.

But she was starting over with next to nothing.

That's until the calls started to come in from people who wanted to help.

When Janine first moved in she was happy to have a roof over her head, now she can't believe this is her home. Photo / Leah Tebbutt

"Most of my furniture, bar a few tiny bits and pieces, have all been lovingly donated by people who read the newspaper or who got in contact with Te Tuinga Whānau," Cork said.

"I've never had matching furniture in all my life. I have always had quite shabby, falling apart stuff so it's just amazing to look around and think, 'wow this is my house'.

"It is going to take a while to realise this is all mine."

Everything from kitchen knives to beds have been given to Cork by people who were once strangers.

"It has restored my faith in mankind," Cork said.

After nearly three years in transitional housing, Cork moved into the house in late February.

Cork says she is a different person to five years ago when her life fell apart and she became homeless after losing her rental because the landlords decided to move in.

Then, she was struggling with addiction and getting out of a bad relationship and had nowhere to go.

She and her son found a room in a boarding house, keeping to their room to avoid the other tenants.

In 2017, she went to transitional and emergency housing provider Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services Trust and has been staying in their properties since.

Cork has been on the social housing waiting list since March 2018.

Janine was happy to have a roof over her head - now she is over the moon with furniture to enjoy it. Photo / George Novak

Now waking up in her new home is a dream come true, she said.

"I come out of my bedroom in the morning and I just can't believe how blessed I am.

"I look around and think, 'Oh my god, whose house is this?'."

It has now reached the stage where Cork said she can be a bit fussy with what goes where.

"I feel a bit spoilt. It's like Christmas every day for me at the moment and I have never had such nice furniture."

A woman who wanted to be known only as Marion reached out to Cork to help.

Since downsizing her home, Marion said she had more items than she needed and felt privileged she could see the difference she was making in Cork's life.

"You can see what you are doing and you can see that you make someone happy. It gave me a lot of pleasure to have that personal association with her.

"It's not about me, it's about Janine. She was really trying to turn her life around and she just needed someone to be kind."

Marion said she assured Cork there were no ulterior motives, and she simply wanted to help.

"I just started filling up my car and going around.

"I gave her duvets and pillows. I just gave her all the basics. I saw what she had and put things together around that."

Now, Marion has a pile of things she has since found and is waiting until the lockdown has lifted so she can drop them off.

Janine says every day feels like Christmas. Photo / File

To the wonderful people of Tauranga,

Following the recent article sharing my story, I wish to express my deepest thanks for the amazing generosity that has been shown to me by many readers of the Bay of Plenty Times, coming forward and donating much-needed furniture.

Immediately, after my article was published, calls started coming in.

I just could not get over the number of people and the depth of their generosity, it has completely renewed my faith in my fellow man, as most people I have dealt with in the past were more prone to taking.

As there are many more people in my same predicament who need help. Any further donations will gratefully be directed to Te Tuinga Whānau, the awesome organisation that has helped me in my journey to a whole new beginning.
God bless, Janine Cork