Magpies swoop in to help save rehab’s EIT Home

Staff and players from the Hawke's Bay Magpies whānau helped Strive Rehabilition with its recovery efforts on Friday.

A group of Hawke’s Bay Magpies players and staff swooped into action on Friday to help clean up Strive Rehabilitation’s cyclone-ravaged EIT home.

Swapping the training grounds for the classroom, players and staff worked tirelessly to help clear debris and set the site up to allow builders to start on their work.

“They completely knocked it out of the park in just a few hours,” said Strive Hawke’s Bay chairman Brett Morris.

Hawke’s Bay Rugby Football Union community partnerships manager Jason Long was part of the crew that did the mahi, and said it was great to be able to lend a hand.

“There was a fair bit of heavy lifting with the desks and that, so it was great to be able to help,” he said.

Also in the region lending a hand were four Hurricanes players who came down to assist, including local Magpie Jacob Devery, who made his Super Rugby debut last year.

“On Fridays, the rugby unions have been getting out and helping the community,” Long said.

When the water swept through EIT Taradale on February 14, most of the campus was badly flooded and all the contents, furniture, computers, rehabilitation aids and papers in Strive’s building were destroyed, leaving the building uninhabitable.

“We are looking at being homeless for nine months,” Morris said.

Pettigrew Green Arena had been very supportive in the interim, helping house the programme while work on the EIT site continued.

A new temporary site was good for meeting the immediate needs of programme recipients, and Morris said it was vital that there was a return to normality.

“People with brain injuries don’t cope well with lifestyle and routine changes, so it’s important to get that back to normal as soon as possible. They need lots of support, like many others at this time.”

The Magpies have a previous relationship with Strive, with players often giving talks to those in the programme.

And now, due to the team’s hard work, those at Strive will be one step closer to getting back into their usual home.

“It was brilliant, we couldn’t’ve done it without them. We can finally start with the rebuild now,” Morris said.