Update Saturday 19/11
19 November 2016
Hey team, Just wanted to take a couple minutes to give a little update on whats been happening the past week.
The team has been flat out fielding calls and taking messages all week, the support and offers coming from all over New Zealand and ever further a field has been nothing short of overwhelming and has totally blown us all away. The list of thank you's is far to long to list but we want to say a big thanks to those who have offered time, given money or donated goods, it is greatly appreciated and is the crux of what makes us proud to be kiwis.
From the guys who have been on the ground the reports are showing the devastation is spread far and wide and a “normal” day for all those affected is going to be a far reach for quite some time.
For now many places are crawling with defense force and civil defense personal so we are doing our best to focus on the isolated areas or farms that are in hard to reach places and providing them with household supplies and diesel etc to keep people fed and machines running to try and make some sense of the mess they have been left with.
As I am typing this update we have just clicked over $40k of donations from all around the world which in itself is mind boggling, as yet we have no set place as to where the money will best be used, some has been used to purchase essential supplies which we had delivered by plane to remote air strips mid week and we will continue to do what we can over the weeks coming.
As a team we feel that the weeks leading up to Christmas will hit people the hardest as civil defense etc start to move out of areas and the reality of life really starts to hit home people wont know where to start, this will be when the support of NZF and all its members is needed the most with care packages, a helping hand for half a day or even just someone to yarn to over a coffee or beer.
From us here at NZF a huge thanks for your support so far, to us and those affected.
Keep an eye out for more updates as the weeks progress.
Cheers
Ryan Badger
NZFarming.