Life for Rotorua mother Rachel Pearson and her six children is now a lot warmer thanks to the city's Curtain Bank.
Despite having a fireplace and insulation, Miss Pearson and her children used to dress up in jerseys and had to use blankets while watching television.
The problem? They didn't have any
curtains in their living area and with the high ceilings, a lot of the heat escaped out the windows.
Miss Pearson found out about the Curtain Bank, an initiative set up by Energy Options, when she approached Rotorua health service Tipu Ora.
Since the bank began a year ago, 30 Rotorua homes have received curtains.
Energy Options is a not-for-profit organisation which helps communities to achieve warmer, drier, healthier homes through adequate insulation, heating solutions and free energy efficiency advice and home assessments.
Miss Pearson said having the curtains had made a lot of difference in her home. "Now it's so hot, the kids wander around with T-shirts and shorts."
She said she had thought about making some curtains herself but just couldn't afford the fabric.
"I'm a solo mum with six kids so I don't have that much. I don't have curtain rails but I still hung [the Curtain Bank curtains] and they are great."
She said the curtains also provided some privacy.
It was not the first time Energy Options has helped her out.
Over recent years the organisation has provided her with a new fireplace and insulated the house.
"They have been the best," Miss Pearson said.
Energy Options spokeswoman Louise Maple said that thanks to kind donations from people in the community and the volunteers who had helped Curtain Bank, it would be able to continue to offer the service to many more homes in Rotorua this winter.
But she said more donations and volunteers were needed.
