Challenging events bring out the best in our community

Sarah Van Der Kley and Martin Good from The Hits.

It's been a tough couple of weeks in Hawke's Bay. First we had the rather large storm that dumped a huge amount of snow around the Bay and cut off power to most people a couple of times.

Then we had the disastrous contamination of the Havelock North water supply. During both these times of turmoil one thing that really shone through was community spirit.

When the snow hit, workers for Unison, the councils and contractors were out in freezing cold conditions at all hours of the day and night, working hard to clear floods, debris and snow and restore power as quickly as possible. People wrote messages of support on Facebook and invited strangers who had no power into the warmth of their homes.

The Swannells ventured onto the wet streets to collect anyone without anywhere to go who wanted to join them at their home to warm up and enjoy a meal.

Locals with spare generators offered theirs to those who were without power for days while Greenmeadows New World sent water to those who were struggling rurally.

When the very nasty gastro bug hit Havelock North, the New World there choose to forego any profit on their bottled water and sold it at cost so locals could drink water they knew was safe without it costing the earth.

Burke Contractors parked a 15,000 litre water tanker on Te Mata Rd and invited locals to help themselves. Neighbours checked on each other. Mothers and fathers who were sick themselves and already looking after their own children offered to watch other people's kids so they could continue to work.

At The Hits, we wanted to help in a small way so we rang Simply Squeezed and asked if they would supply us with some juice to give away in Havelock. They immediately agreed and yesterday we handed out 400 bottles of free juice in five minutes.

Things will go wrong in life, that's inevitable. We can't do anything about a snow storm and I sincerely hope nothing like the water contamination in Havelock ever happens again, but one thing these challenging events do is bring a community together. A place where people are willing to open their homes and their hearts in times of trouble is a place I am proud to call my home.

- Don't miss Martin Good and Sarah Van Der Kley on The Hits Hawke's Bay from 6am to 9am Monday to Friday.