Te Aroha folk share the love for affected workers

From left, Moana McLaren, Iyana Stevenson, Ra Hughes and Chloe Hughes. Photo / Janna Dixon

Two sisters gathering food parcels and donations for stricken families reckon Te Aroha has lived up to the meaning of its name - "the love".

Ra Hughes and her sister Moana McLaren say locals are rallying to make sure Christmas is as good as it can be for the families of the 350 workers left without jobs after the local meatworks went up in flames.

This week the two women launched Aroha for Te Aroha, appealing on a local radio station for food for the affected families and Christmas presents for the children.

"The response was absolutely incredible," says McLaren. "People were turning up with groceries in their cars. The phones didn't stop."

The pair went round the local businesses asking for help. No one turned them down.

In the workshop basement of Ra's second-hand furniture business, Villa Desires, a large trestle table stands in the middle - a temporary Christmas present wrapping station.

A pile of presents already sits there, each labelled with an age and gender of the child. Food is stacked on side tables in rows - even after two days it's a sizeable amount.

"Everyone who's been in to drop things off, they're all emotional, " says McLaren. "We've been having people coming up, giving us $20 and saying, 'buy some lollies for the kids'."

McLaren says the meatworks workers have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the townsfolk.