Wanted: Gas heaters for Christchurch

Northlanders are being urged to send a little warmth to the quake-stricken people of Canterbury - by donating gas heaters.
The Kerikeri Baptist Church is spearheading a Northland-wide drive to collect LPG heaters and take them to Auckland, from where they will be transported to Christchurch for distribution to cold and damaged homes.
Nationally the Baptist Union is aiming to collect 1000 heaters.
Kerikeri church member John Walst said gas heaters were not ideal for health or the environment.
"But the bottom line is, for many people in Christchurch, this is their only option for providing heat."
Many homes had lost their chimneys, so could not use their fireplaces and the city's still fragile power network could not cope with everyone using electric heaters.
This week's powerful aftershocks - which left tens of thousands of people without power just as temperatures dropped to 1C - underscored the need for alternative means of heating, Mr Walst said. He did not want the gas bottles, which could not be transported, but he was asking for a $10 donation per heater to help pay for container transport from Auckland to Christchurch.
The heaters need to be dropped off by noon on Sunday, when Mr Walst starts a pick-up run from churches in Doubtless Bay, Kerikeri, Kawakawa and Whangarei.
Mr Walst hoped to contribute 50 heaters from Northland to the four container-loads due to leave Auckland on Monday and had put the word out to churches from Kaitaia to Orewa, as well as Rotary and other groups.
Once in Christchurch a power company had pledged to service each heater, install a new gas bottle and fill it free of charge.
Mr Walst and his wife, Jillian, were in Christchurch last week, where all three of their children studied, to see the devastation.
* To drop off a heater, minus cylinder, contact your local Baptist church or email jwalst@xtra.co.nz. You can also call the Walsts on (09) 407 1508 or 027 671 8609. Doubtless Bay residents can drop heaters at the Christian Centre on SH10 from 9am to 3pm on Friday.