A helping hand for weather-impacted communities in NZ

To help out the communities that were hit the hardest by Cyclone Gabrielle, we've made donations to the Mayoral Relief Funds in Tairāwhiti, Hawkes Bay, Wairoa, Thames Coromandel, Northland, and Auckland, and are supplying tools, protective gear and other much-needed supplies to volunteer groups.

Mayoral Relief Fund Update

Together we raised over $425,000 to support communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. A huge thanks to all of you who gave so generously to our Mayoral Relief Fund donation drive. The money will directly support communities in the most impacted regions.

Initiatives we’ve supported so far

We’ve supplied Taskforce Kiwi, an organisation led by military and emergency service veterans, with tools & PPE as they work alongside Emergency Management Services to assist with relief and recovery efforts. Their work includes debris clearance & removal, impact & damage assessments, emergency repairs, logistics support & distribution, medical support, and more.

Mitre 10 New Zealand joined other businesses donating to Caleb Thompson of Offroad Addiction TV. Caleb and his crew of community-minded offroaders (including Tony Stubbs, Karl Goodall & John Carson) were able to distribute supplies to isolated and difficult to access communities around Wairoa, Gisborne and Napier. Supplies included four tonnes of frozen meats, eight tonnes of salt ice, two fuel pumps and tanks, 2000 litres of fuel, as well as plenty of groceries, toiletries and blankets. The crew has been working with the New Zealand Army to get supplies to the people who need them most. A special acknowledgement to these businesses who donated to or supported Caleb and his crew: Neat Meats, Southern Ocean Seafoods, Mainline Hamilton, Aussie Butcher New Lynn, Mega Foods, Big Chill Hastings, Harrington's Smallgoods & Turk's Corn Fed Free Range Poultry.

Stan the Builder has never been shy about rolling up his sleeves and getting stuck-in. Our resident builder has already been amongst it helping friends and neighbours in his native Gisborne, removing flood damaged materials in their houses, clearing away silt, and making sure bathrooms and kitchens are working as they should.

After a mammoth effort from our team members across the region, Mitre 10 Gisborne were able to start offering their customers cash-out on eftpos transactions. With the ATMs down and people running out of cash buying essential items, many were worrying about securing food.

The residents of the Te Pōhue settlement in Hawke’s Bay were stuck in place for several days after the cyclone due to washed-out bridges and destroyed sections of road. A group of residents made it out to request help for the community and the first port of call was Mitre 10 MEGA Taupō. Mitre 10 team members and customers in-store that day banded together to gather supplies including a generator, gas canisters and cookers to send back to Te Pōhue. A special thanks to Jason Maze of Maze Landscapes Ltd and other customers in-store that day for generously putting in their own money to help out.

The teams at Mitre 10 MEGA Hornby and Mitre 10 MEGA Papanui were able to respond immediately to a request from the MBIE to provide much needed emergency supplies to help affected communities in the North Island. These were loaded onto the HMNZS Canterbury in Lyttelton which departed for Napier shortly after. The Mitre 10 team pulled out all the stops to get everything ready to on-board, an absolutely massive effort from everyone involved.

The team at Mitre 10 Marton donated several large boxes of gas canisters to rural farmers in Puketapu, Puketitiri and Patoka, making sure everyone who’s been impacted could cook hot meals through the challenging recovery period. Mitre 10 Feilding jumped in to help too, putting in 47 heavily discounted torches and a bunch of free batteries.

We’re updating this page regularly to acknowledge and shout out the local heroes doing great work in our communities.

Stay strong New Zealand. We’re with you all the way.