“I like helping people out and I like pulling things to bits.
“I can’t fix anything but I’m really good at destroying stuff,” he says with a laugh.
Old washing machines, appliances, lawn mowers, you name it, he strips them down in his backyard and sells the scrap metal.
At the moment copper brings in the most money, then brass and lead. He takes it down by the trailer load to Napier because that’s where he can get the best price.
In an age when recycling is more important than ever, Daryl does the hard yards of stripping back unused machinery, and helps people clean up their backyards at the same time.
“It works out well both ways. I can pick it up for them and the cancer society gets the money.
“A lot of people in Gisborne can’t afford to dump stuff, it costs a lot and most people don’t have a trailer.”
The money raised helps people in Tairawhiti diagnosed with cancer get to their medical appointments, access other services the society offers, and pay for resources.
Daryl says he enjoys getting up each morning knowing he is going to help people.
He had a big garage built in his backyard last year but does most of the work outside, especially the oily messy bits with motors. The neighbours are pretty good about it, he says.
Now, when Daryl goes to do a pick-up from someone’s home his reputation has preceded him. People often share personal stories about their experience with cancer, or those they know who have had it.
“Some people really struggle and don’t have their families around them. I go around and meet the people, have a coffee, even had a beer one time.”
Asked to describe himself, Daryl says he is friendly but “one of those shy types who like to work in the background”.
Recycling metal into money for charity is Daryl’s full-time job, even though he does not get paid a cent. He has lived off his savings since returning to Gisborne in 2017 after 30 years working in Australia.
“At some time in the future I will need a part-time job to keep me going but at the moment I’m in the position to do this. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d either be bored or I’d be out getting a job.”
Daryl was a night shift supervisor at a pasta factory in Australia, and ran the machinery.
The company Rinoldi, is the second biggest pasta factory in the Southern Hemisphere. They supplied pasta to brands like Continental and Watties.
“Over in Australia when you work a night shift they pay you penal rates, they pay you double time on weekends, and I worked seven days a week.
“That’s what I did over there, I just worked. I was there for 10 years before I came back to New Zealand for a visit.”
When Daryl first came back from Australia he started volunteering for the Salvation Army. Then his sister was diagnosed with cancer and his fundraising focus switched to the Gisborne East Coast Cancer Society.
Daryl was born in Gisborne, one of seven children. His parents moved here from Wellington in the 1950s and bought a home in Kaiti.
“Back when we were growing up, most of the families in our street never had much money but everyone had their vege gardens and neighbours used to swap their veges.
“The street where I am now all the neighbours around here, we do the same — the neighbours make cakes and pikelets, and people whose places I go to sometimes say I can take fruit from their trees so I pick some and give it to people, and take it to the cancer society.”
He loves Gisborne, and says the community here is one of the most generous he has known.
Daryl and his siblings went to Kaiti School. He attended Boys’ High School for a couple of months before going to high school in Whakatane but admits he didn’t really like it and, “wagged a lot”.
Especially when he had to stand up and talk in front of people.
“I don’t mind going to people’s houses and having one-on-one conversations but standing in front of a crowd, no thanks.”
Daryl left school at about 15 for his first job at the Gisborne Bottle Exchange.
Most of the job was recycling scrap metal.
He says his mum was a helper, and the rest of his family are too.
“When we grew up Mum always used to take us fishing because Dad was at work. We would walk across the train bridge.”
His father used to repair boats in Wellington but started his own cleaning business when they moved to Gisborne.
He used to clean the DB Hotel by himself. Daryl remembers going to work with him sometimes and finding the loose change that had fallen out of men’s pockets when they went up to the bar to buy drinks.
“We used to get our pocket money that way.”
Asked if there is anything else he would like to say, Daryl’s reply is typical of the man he is.
“I’d like to say thanks to the companies who have supported me, the local businesses who have helped me out and thanks to the people of Gisborne for helping me and the cancer society.”
Then he was off with his trailer to do another pick-up, and back to the cancer society to help set up for their smokefree day event.
