Cyclone Gabrielle: Rotorua Aero Club flies in donations for Hawke’s Bay

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst (left) with members of the Rotorua Aero Club who flew much-needed supplies into Hawke’s Bay following Cyclone Gabrielle.

The Rotorua Aero Club flew three plane-loads of supplies into Hawke’s Bay to help support the local response effort after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst welcomed the teams who brought food and other necessities that had been collected through a combined effort by the Waiariki Women’s Refuge Rotorua, Rotorua Whakaora and Rotorua Aero Club.

The goods flown in from Rotorua went to supporting RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employer) workers from flood-damaged orchards, and some supplies were also dropped off at the Civil Defence community hub at Tomoana Showgrounds Hawke’s Bay in Hastings.

The Hastings mayor was invited out to Air Napier to welcome the team to the region, and she thanked them for making the trip to support the region’s recovery.

“It was wonderful to meet them - their efforts will be much appreciated by our wider community. There’s a huge amount of need, and it’s wonderful to have people pulling together like this to help others,” Hazlehurst said.

Along with dropping supplies off for Hastings, the Rotorua Aero Club has also dropped supplies into Puketapu and Wairoa.

Hazlehurst thanked Air Napier for opening its tarmac to the planes and said to date, they’d moved about 80 tonnes of supplies throughout the region.

Helena Von Oslow and her friend Micky C picked up the goods on behalf of 80 RSE workers who had been displaced by the floods.

“There was rice, lots of cans of food, muesli bars, pasta and snacks and razors and shaving cream, which they had particularly asked for.”

“The workers were pretty happy to get these supplies. It’s a big help,” Von Oslow said.

Von Oslow said she had also received supplies from the Environment Centre yesterday, all of which was much appreciated.

Multiple agencies were working together to continue getting out into remote communities over the coming days to assess people’s needs, Hazlehurst explained.

“We are very aware there are those in the community who we haven’t seen as much of as we would like – we have not forgotten about them. We are on our way.”