Mayoral relief trust has seen ‘absolute best of humanity’ Stoltz tells council

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The  Gisborne Mayoral Relief Trust received $3 million in the year to June, resulting in grants being made to applications which Mayor Rehette Stoltz said made “my eyes well up”.

The mayor was speaking at a full council meeting where the Disaster Relief Trust Annual Report was adopted.

“It was an absolute privilege and honour working alongside Councillor Rhonda Tibble to distribute the money to our community in need.

“I just thought about what we saw from the applications.”

“People were absolutely devastated but were benefiting from the generosity of the community who were all helping in a small way,” said the mayor.

Most of the public donations were made after Cyclone Gabrielle, said the report from trustees.

“The impact these donations have had on our community cannot be understated.”

One large donation was for $400,000, and $2.6m had been distributed by June 30.

Mayor Stoltz said fantastic and generous donations came from such groups as children donating $11.93, an aero club in Tauranga, organisations not wanting to be named but giving hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a woman knitting jerseys.

There was a robust and consistent process and a lot of aroha, she said.

“”We have been through the toughest times, but I have seen the absolute best of humanity.”

Councillor Josh Wharehinga said he had seen much hardship and much relief provided by the trust.

There were “tricky spots” such as where work tools were covered by insurance, but individually owned tools were not.

Over 300 individual applications were supported and over 220 owners of red or yellow stickered homes received funding to assist them either repair their homes or to find alternative options.

The trust primarily supported applicants with property repairs and replacement of possessions, restoring access to homes to enable people to move out of emergency accommodation, and with direct financial support for the additional costs people were experiencing as a result of weather events.

Funding was directed to those areas most directly impacted by the weather events.

Those areas included Te Karaka, along the Coast north of Gisborne city, parts of Gisborne city and at Manutuke and Tiniroto.

The meeting heard that public donations were still being received post-June 30.