Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Early Christmas gifts for charity hit by gate-stealing thieves

Samantha Motion
By Samantha Motion
Regional Content Leader·Bay of Plenty Times·
2 Dec, 2017 10:50 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Karl Merriman, Ray Sterling and Cody Stevens from EasyGate with St Vincent de Paul Society area manager Lorna Edlin with the new gates. Photo / Andrew Warner

Karl Merriman, Ray Sterling and Cody Stevens from EasyGate with St Vincent de Paul Society area manager Lorna Edlin with the new gates. Photo / Andrew Warner

A Tauriko company put off its staff Christmas party yesterdayto replace a Tauranga charity's stolen gates.

When Ray and Nathalie Sperling, owners of EasyGate in Tauriko, saw in Tuesday's Bay of Plenty Times thieves had come in the dead of night and nicked off with the Tauranga St Vincent de Paul Society's gates, they did not hesitate to make a generous offer.

"My wife called me and said 'This is just ridiculous, why would someone steal someone's gates? Especially from people who are helping the community. We have to do something'," Sperling said.

The Vinnies, who had been busy getting quotes for new gates, gratefully accepted the Sterlings' offer of a free pair.

The Sterlings put EasyGate's production schedule - already five weeks behind - on hold and whipped up a pair of 1.9m double aluminium gates. The double gates - worth about $2000 - have a spear-style top to discourage climbers, as requested by the charity.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Colourfast in Koromiko St agreed to do the powder coating for free.

The EasyGate team had planned to have their Christmas do in Rotorua yesterday but postponed it to instead spend the afternoon installing the new gates at the Cameron Rd op shop and centre.

The charity's area manager, Lorna Edlin, said they were blown away by the gift.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It was not the only nice thing to come from the meanspirited theft.

The Legacy Trust donated $1000 to the charity. Trustee Greg Brownless, Tauranga's mayor, said he knew the work it did in the community and the trust was "happy to help them out".

And security company Nu Tech agreed to throw a free extra security camera into an upgrade the charity was already doing.

"It's the most amazing thing ever," Edlin said.

Discover more

Op shops tire of being 'treated like tips'

30 Dec 07:00 PM

Baffling gate theft

- Gates vanish overnight on Monday
- Theft believed to have happened between 11pm and 12am
- One gate 1m wide, the other 3m
- Police investigating, no arrests yet

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

07 Jul 01:24 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

06 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

07 Jul 01:24 AM

Cherneka Johnson's fight will stream live on Netflix, a first for a Kiwi boxer.

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

06 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP