A nine-year-old girl in Hawke's Bay is using her voice to raise people's spirits and raise money for cyclone-impacted communities.
Effie Palfreman of Waipukurau has been busking in the town centre, singing her favourite songs to bring in donations for the Central Hawke's Bay relief fund.
Since kicking off over the weekend, she has raised $500.
On Saturday Effie was outside the Pure Sports and Leisure store in Waipukurau, where she raised $115.
"Effie is here singing to raise $ to support or community, get on down and have a listen and donate!" the store wrote in a Facebook Post, featuring a video of Effie singing the Vance Joy song Riptide.
On Sunday she was outside New World in Waipukurau, singing classics such as Colours of the Wind from Pocahontas.
Effie, who wants to be an artist and singer when she grows up, says she really likes artists like Adele and P!nk.
"I would really like to keep performing Rock Around The Clock and Colours of the Wind cause those are really good songs that I know off by heart," she said.
“People are so giving,” her mum Lisa Palfreman said, sharing that one person gave $60 “even though he has lost his truck and garage contents. But he has insurance and knows others aren’t as lucky as him".
She says her daughter started going to a music school over the summer and, after hearing about people affected by the cyclone, decided she wanted to help.
"[She said] 'how about I go out and busk? Then once I've raised some money, we'll walk around and find people who need it, then give it to them'," Lisa said.
"I was like hang on, the people who really need it won't be in town, so we'll give it to a relief fund and maybe to some people who need it."
Lisa then got a hold of Neen, a contact from local organisation The Sustainable Ewe, who matched Saturday's donations.
She, Effie and their family were not badly affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, but they have family in Napier who were moderately impacted and friends of the family who have lost nearly everything.
"We know people [and] know of people who have lost so much," Lisa said. "We'll do [whatever] helps, we've got a lot of coins that have added up."
With school on this week, Effie is taking a brief hiatus from busking, but she plans on bringing her music back to Waipukurau's town centre this weekend.
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