Cyclone Gabrielle: Flooding helped church engage

Engage Church volunteers helping clear out houses in Pakowhai.

Rallying the troops following a catastrophic flood might not have been in the job description when Amy and Andrew Dishroon took on the position of pastors at Engage Church in Napier. But less than five months into their new roles, the young couple have found themselves at the centre of a makeshift distribution centre, leading their flock in the midst of the mayhem following Cyclone Gabrielle.

The Pirimai based Engage Church leaders welcomed trucks, tractors and trailers to help distribute load after load of donated goods which poured in after the floods devasted parts of Hawke’s Bay. Amy says their immediate response was to share anything they had.

Supplies being sent out across rivers to families cut off in Patoka.

“The first morning after it happened, after checking our church property and clearing the drains, we raced to the three evacuation centres in Napier and asked what they needed.”

They were told the most urgent needs were water, warm clothing, blankets and baby supplies.

“So, we rushed to the supermarket and loaded up emergency supplies to deliver out to them. Seeing the beautiful groups of retirement villagers gathered at Tamatea Intermediate and Equippers Church was heart breaking.”

Church volunteers were gathered to help send any warm clothing or blankets from their Pirimai community store to the evacuation centres, which were housing rooms full of people. Once communication was possible, Amy says they heard from El Rancho in Waikanae who hired three generators and drove them up.

“We were then able to set up Engage Church as a phone charging and Wifi hub for a day until the power came back on in that area.”

Many people from the community came in and enjoyed food and hot drinks while their phones charged.

“A special moment I had was with a lady who from charging her phone was able to get in touch with her mum for the first time that week- she had tears down her face hearing she was okay.”

Once the word was out, churches from around the country began offering support to Napier.

“We had four different truckloads come from Waikato, Wellington and Tauranga with huge amounts of much-needed supplies. After the first truck arrived, we had incredible volunteer help from Engage Church and others in the community who helped sort and distribute goods.”

Amy says their usual church gatherings on Sundays changed as they saw the need for people to connect, share stories and work together to help their community.

“We added a practical element to our church times. After services we all got into teams of either distribution, practical work, food prep or kids’ hangs. That way everybody could serve in some way. We then sent everyone out to areas in our church, homes and rural properties to get stuck into the mahi.”

Engage Church teams preparing food for volunteer teams across multiple homes.

Amy says it’s been amazing how so many people have joined the church whānau in this time while serving Hawke’s Bay with others.

“Other churches across the North and South Islands have also been so generous with sending supplies and also donating, so we could buy more than was needed, including things like beds and clothing, etc for those who have lost everything.”

Hundreds of people jumped on board to help out, working to their strengths and sharing the load.

“Those who are great organisers have jumped in to sort supplies, great cooks have prepared food, men and women helped with physical jobs of clearing homes that were destroyed by the flood and others worked on orchards to clear silt.”

Engage Church is filled with supplies and volunteers who distributed the goods out to areas in need.

Amy says thankfully the truckloads came on different days, so they had teams coming to offload and organise donations into areas.

“We have sent things all over in cars and trailers, to tractors crossing rivers, on helicopters, and on boats. People have been exceptional. The heart to help is strong in Hawke’s Bay as many can see, and we have been so privileged to serve alongside so many generous and willing people. Someone said to us “helping others is helping me get through”, it’s so powerful.”