Horowhenua sends generators and aroha to Hawke’s Bay

Levin - Generators and fuel from the Horowhenua have provided a big boost to cyclone Gabrielle recovery efforts at the Omahu community in Hawke’s Bay. 

Seven generators, 240 litres of fuel, 20 petrol cans, and $200 in petrol vouchers were delivered to the Omahu marae by Levin businessman Rowan Clarke, in partnership with Hastings church initiative genLend.

Clarke said news reports of the cyclone damage in Hawke’s Bay spurred him into action.  He was involved in the 2004 floods and knew it was worse than it looked.

The outdoor machinery store owner started receiving generator orders from Hawke’s Bay last week as local stores sold out, even driving to Auckland himself to meet the urgent demand.

Having exhausted supplies, he decided to start a campaign to get locals to lend a generator instead.

“In rural areas most people have generators sitting in the shed doing nothing,” he said.  Farmers know what it is to be without power at times and also to be last to get the power on with urban centres getting priority.”

Realising petrol cans were also in short supply, Clarke ordered 20 from a contact in Auckland. To target the farming community, he took his campaign out to rural schools, delivering a petrol can to each one and asking the kids to decorate the cans with messages of hope for Hawke’s Bay from the children of the Horowhenua.  

“I knew getting the kids involved would also help spread the word to rural communities where people would understand the need and want to help,” he said.

Clarke said around 70 percent of the machines had stale fuel or needed some work, so he enlisted his mechanics to make sure they were all in working order before making the trip.

A radio station and a community Facebook group threw their support behind the initiative too. With their help spreading the word, Clarke headed to petrol stations and raised $1500 for the containers and filled every one of them with fuel.

GenLend was developed at Saint Andrews Church in Hastings 10 days ago to bring generators, pumps and small diggers from around the country into Hawke's Bay as part of the disaster response.