Wairoa curtain call: Red Cross NZ says demand means it can no longer supply town with free curtains

Alma Moeau (left) and Abbie Taylor, members of the Red Cross' child health housing team, pictured with the last of the curtains - they're now calling out for more.

A curtain call in Wairoa is far from signalling the final act – it’s almost like the first scene.

The town is having to set up its own curtain bank, with a Red Cross NZ spokesperson saying “exponential” growth in demand for curtains from its six curtain banks, including the Napier bank, means it can no longer support Wairoa in the same way.

The Red Cross runs six of the curtain banks throughout the country, and its spokesperson said: “In the last year alone, it [the Napier Curtain Bank] supplied more than 4400 curtains to 350 homes, with volunteers putting in more than 3500 hours to ensure homes in the Hawke’s Bay region had warm curtains.”

It has been supporting Te Whatu Ora’s child healthy housing programme with the supply of curtains to Wairoa, where kaiāwhina Abbie Taylor says six to eight house assessments are now being done every week as the demand escalates.

She says curtains most often become available as facilities like motels and retirement homes and villages get refurbished, but there’s no such supply in the northern Hawke’s Bay town, which is still reeling from the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle almost seven months ago.

The Napier Curtain Bank has offered to help Wairoa until the end of this month, and to help it set up its own service.

Volunteers in both Napier and Wairoa work daily, sizing and preparing donated curtains and linings to suit the homes into which they are being placed in order to help keep the houses warm and dry, and to try to prevent hospitalisations of children with health issues stemming from cold and dampness.

“What we need help, with starting our own curtain bank, are quality second-hand curtains that we can then sew to size and often add a lining to make custom curtains for these homes,” said Taylor, who can be contacted at abbie.taylor@hbdhb.govt.nz.

“Napier would get these from motels/hotels and from retirement complexes,” she said. “But we have none of those.”

The Red Cross spokesperson said the Napier Curtain Bank is “unfortunately” no longer able to support Wairoa with its free curtain service, “because the volunteer-run Curtain Bank has been overwhelmed with demand for some time and has had to make the difficult decision to narrow the region it can support”.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.