Winter warmer packs to help struggling Northland families as winter bites

Struggling Northland families feeling the bite of winter are set for a welcome warm delivery.

Around 20 volunteers spent a day packaging up winter warmer packs at Red Cross in Whangārei, which would be distributed to around 100 families across Northland.

The packs include blankets, draught stoppers, beanies, socks, gloves, torches, a smoke alarm, pyjamas, noodles, soup, marshmallows and more.

Northland Red Cross community services manager Nancy Kareroa-Yorke said families had been referred to them through community agencies One Double Five Community House in Whangārei, Foster Hope in the Far North and CCS Disability Action.

A few families the Red Cross works with directly would also receive a package.

So far 40 families in Whangārei - from Hikurangi to Ruakākā - and 25 families from Kawakawa to Kaitaia had been allocated a package, and Kareroa-Yorke expected more referrals to come in.

She said the packs were going to single mums, single dads, parents and grandparents with children. Kareroa-Yorke said it "will absolutely" help as winter gets colder.

Red Cross corporate partnerships manager Matthew McCracken said the packs contain "little things that make a big difference".

McCracken said, in particular, it would help families who have to chose between buying food and turning the heater on.

He said for families who can't afford to heat a whole house, a duvet or blanket would be a huge help.

"Things people take for granted, they just go out and buy it, a lot of families just can't do that."

McCracken said the items could also make a difference for those with respiratory illness.

He said the winter warmer programme was part of a partnership with AMI, which provided the funding to purchase all the items for the packages.

The programme ran in Taranaki last year, and has been expanded to Taranaki, Northland and the Wairarapa this year.

One Double Five Community House community development worker Carol Peters said the warm packages would make a big difference for vulnerable Northland families.

"Families can't afford the basics for keeping their families warm."

She said people don't always realise the effects the cold has on families who are vulnerable.

Peters said she had heard a story about a child who couldn't go on a camp because they didn't have their own pyjamas, but getting pyjamas had made a big difference.

The winter warmer packs have been delivered to the community organisations to begin distribution into the community.