Carrie Kake pictured in 2018 while advocating for the homeless community who often parked at Tarewa Park. Kake has been described as someone who fought for what she believed in. Photo / NZME
Carrie Kake pictured in 2018 while advocating for the homeless community who often parked at Tarewa Park. Kake has been described as someone who fought for what she believed in. Photo / NZME
A Whangārei woman who fiercely championed the district’s homeless community for more than five decades is being remembered as generous, determined and kind.
Carrie Kake died on Saturday, April 18 after a long illness. She was 74.
During her mission to improve people’s lives, Kake helped createOpen Arms- the city’s day shelter for rough sleepers, she repurposed a house in Te Kamo to take in families and most recently lobbied for a night shelter.
“She was a beacon of hope, very driven, driven by her unwavering dedication to create positive change.”
Sullivan believed Kake was driven by her own experience of living on the streets at a young age.
“Carrie’s own life journey, marked by resilience and perseverance, was a powerful catalyst for her mission ... which began taking shape from the age of when she was around 11 ... probably even before that,” Sullivan said. “She endured a lot.”
Once Kake had children and a home, she “never stopped” helping others.
Sullivan said she made meals for people on the streets from her own cupboard.
“It was like her house was a never-ending well of food.”
Kake was not a woman you could say no to.
“She’s come out with me and she would have just come out of hospital most times,” Sullivan said, “I didn’t even fight it, you know, ‘Okay, come on then, put a warm jacket on, put some gumboots on’.”
Sullivan said even in her final moments, Kake’s wairua [spirit] remained unbroken.
“She was still motivating and pushing me.
“Sometimes it was like ‘Oh Carrie, just have a rest’, but there was no rest for her.”
Carrie Kake giving a helping hand at a 90th birthday. Photo / Petrina Sullivan
“There’s a whakataukī [proverb] and it goes something like, He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata ... it’s like if you were to ask me what is the greatest thing in the world ... I will reply it is the people, it is the people, it is the people. And she demonstrated that really well ... she put volume to that.”
Former Whangārei District councillor and social worker Carol Peters described Kake as a good person.
At the venue’s opening in 2018, Kake said it would be a place where people could come and “feel love”.
“Big things will happen here. Healing will be done in this place,” she’d said.
Peters spent family Christmases with Kake, and the pair worked to get people food, showers and into work.
“She just kept going ... didn’t take no for an answer ... she believed in people,” Peters said.
Carrie Kake and Carol Peters pictured together in 2018 at the opening of Open Arms, a day shelter which had been a long-held dream of Kake's. Photo / NZME
In a speech prepared for Kake’s tangi, Peters thanked her family for sharing her with the people of Whangārei for “so many years”.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.
