A Hastings marae has been putting in the hard mahi following Cyclone Gabrielle, even without government support.
Waipatu Marae has been housing people impacted by the cyclone, sending out food and supplies to the community.
Tāne Tomoana said that when the cyclone first hit, the marae was called up to be an evacuation centre for around 100 people.
While the first day was quiet, the second day saw an entire hapū show up, all looking for help.
From then, the marae has naturally turned into a dispatch centre, housing whānau and sending out food packages. Only now are they receiving financial support from the Government, which announced a $15 million package to support Māori in the wake of the cyclone.
Tomoana told Breakfast the early days were tough, as there were a lot of people who needed support.
“We had so much need straight away, and we just had to reach out to the community as much as we could and get as much out to whanau as we could,” he said.
Through their network, the marae was able to bring in all kinds of people to help with the needs of people staying there.
“Every day is really different here, things break down and things need to be fixed, or things are stressed under the capacity of so many people.
“So we’ve just had all our different tradies; the whole motu has really come together as a community,” Tomoana said.
Most people running the marae haven’t been able to go back to work, volunteeringly working 16 hours some days.
Tomoana said the level of mahi comes from a place of wanting to help those who need it most.
“Māori are natural first responders; marae are natural first responders, so just as a whānau and a hapū, we’ve just all come together to do the work.”
He said that now, the marae is currently supporting hapu and marae from the rural areas near Hastings.
The money from the Government is set to go towards paying volunteers and will trickle into communities.
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