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Help for Caroline and Matt after cyclone Gabrielle

  • Thank you for your kindness

      6 April 2023
    Posted by: Caroline Bell-Booth

    Hi Friends - we just wanted to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for generosity and kind wishes. It has been a challenging couple of months and we have both had to dig deep to find a way to accept this challenge and find our way through with a smile.

    We have learned a lot about who we are and we have been both relieved and deeply moved to realise what an incredible community of people we have attracted into our lives. It is a cliche but an experience like this focuses your attention on what truly matters: for us, it is the quality of our connections and relationships - and you are undeniably a part of that.

    I'd love to be able to update you with positive progress, but it is a hard slog. In short, everyone is waiting on the Council to determine whether we can ever return to our properties in order to progress. We do not foresee that happening until at least October 2023.

    Like many in Muriwai, we have fallen in to an insurance/EQC loophole in that our house remains standing - just with an alarming amount of Council land now leaning right up against it! Some of our land has been damaged in the process but the greatest risk is the Council reserve above us and whether that land may fall further in the future. Thus the loophole: the damage and danger is mostly potential rather than actual.

    Right now, our best hope is for Council to "Red Zone" our property, prompting a Crown/Council buyout, similar to Christchurch. This would free us from the burden of our mortgage and allow us to modestly start again.

    Until then, we have our insurance accommodation allowance which will cover our rent for another couple of months as we continue to pay our mortgage (nb the banks are yet to provide any relief to our obligations). We know that this process will take much longer than that, so this donation will quite literally keep a roof over our heads until the end of the year. This means the world to us. It has given us assurance in a time of great and unsettling uncertainty.

    From our hearts to yours, thank you so very much.

    The champagne is on us when we (finally) get to celebrate this chapter of our lives closing!

    Matt & Caroline xx

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  • An update and a thank you from Caroline and Matt

      14 March 2023

    Thank you so much for all your support and love over the past month. We have immense gratitude for all that’s been given, and we’ll be closing this page down in a few days.

    I would like to acknowledge and thank each and every one of you who have donated to this fund for Caroline and Matt. Your generosity and kindness have been a real lifeline in what is - and continues to be - a really uncertain and stressful time.

    Thanks to your support our two friends have been able to secure a place to stay in Muriwai for the next 6 months to maybe even a year. This makes a huge difference to them, as this accommodation cost is on top of all the existing outgoings for their home (mortgage, rates etc…) that they continue to pay while the council, EQC and other bodies debate what’s to happen with properties at Muriwai.

    We now know it’s going to be a long time before anything is settled - they’re looking at 2-3 years before any kind of decision/insurance payment is made. It’s going to be a long, difficult process for them and for many others in NZ who are facing the same challenges. The value of the care and support from people surrounding them cannot be underestimated. You’re all amazing.

    Thanks again, and much love.

    Jess - for Caroline and Matt.

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