Hawke's Bay children facing health risks due to living in cold homes will be better off next winter thanks to the creation of a "firewood bank" in the region.
The brainchild of Hawke's Bay DHB housing project co-ordinator Keith Hamilton and the Child Healthy Housing Programme team, the aim was to amass a stockpile of wood for distribution to vulnerable families, but in a way that would not break the budget.
"One of the interventions we've identified is the need for heating," he said.
"Obviously with budgets being tight we needed to find different ways to offer support to these vulnerable families so we sent requests out for a supply of firewood to various organisations and Hastings District Council, Hawke's Bay Regional Council and members of the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association responded with offers of wood."
With a wood supply secured the next challenge was processing and storing the wood, so Mr Hamilton said he contacted EIT forestry tutor Mike Bayliss for help.