Fiji - Cyclone Winston Support

UPDATE 15/04/16

A huge thank you to everyone that donated to our Fiji Fundraiser. Along with the donations on this page, the Ryman Villages and Offices raised $31,025. Ryman matched all donations, and the total donation to the Red Cross was $93,213.

We handed over the cheque to the Red Cross on Monday 11/04/16 and they assured us that 100% of it will go directly to Fiji.

You may also be interested to know that as we introduce the new uniforms into our Ryman villages, we will donate and ship more than 2,000 older-style uniforms to Fiji as well.

Thank you again for your help!

-------------------------------------------------------

Approximately 130 of our Ryman colleagues have immediate family in Fiji that have suffered as a result of Cyclone Winston.

Each person has a different story to tell.

Ronita Prasad's family were safe, however their home in Savusavu had been seriously damaged. The roof was gone, the basement was flooded, they do not know what they are going to do, they have lost their family home.

As of yesterday afternoon (29/02/16) Kelera Madraitabua had not yet heard from her mother and her 13 year old daughter, in the nine days post the cyclone. She was really worried, she hadn't been able to sleep and she was just praying that they were safe.

It was a magical moment yesterday when Kelera's phone rang and it was her daughter! There were screams of delight and relief as Kelera was at last able to talk to her family for a moment. It didn't last long as Kelera's phone went dead, but it didn't matter - Kelera was just so happy to finally know that they were safe. There were tears and hugs all round!

This is just two of almost 130 stories from our colleagues, and almost all of them have immediate family in Fiji seriously affected by Cyclone Winston. We want to help them.

We are matching the fundraising $1 for $1. The funds will be used by Red Cross to support all Fijians.

Thank you for all of your kind donations - it's a great cause - they really need our help.