Bald Angels Charitable Trust founder Therese Wickbom [right] with volunteers involved in the huge Cyclone Gabrielle recovery effort.
Bald Angels Charitable Trust founder Therese Wickbom [right] with volunteers involved in the huge Cyclone Gabrielle recovery effort.
A Far North charity has been recognised for its work mobilising the entire community and its volunteer network to help with Cyclone Gabrielle recovery efforts in Northland and Gisborne.
Bald Angels Charitable Trust was a joint winner of this year’s Mitre 10 New Zealand Community of the Year award.
The award recognised New Zealanders who were “actively contributing to their communities, fostering positive and lasting impacts”.
Bald Angels founder Therese Wickbom said the Far North community was “awesome” at responding to the February 2023 natural disaster.
“It really does highlight how Bald Angels connects across communities here in Te Tai Tokerau.
“We may be based in Kerikeri, but our mahi is broad and inclusive.
“This community really wanted to help those impacted by the cyclone, and we made it happen.”
After the severe cyclone, the Bald Angels quickly mobilised its team of volunteers who packed boxes with essential items and readied them for distribution.
Community donations came from far and wide filling the numerous “angel boxes” around the Kerikeri township with bottled water, baby food, nappies, shoes, gumboots, bedding, clothes and groceries.
They were collected by volunteers and distributed to towns in the Hokianga, including whānau in Pawarenga, Omanaia, Ōmāpere, Waima, Kokohuia, Kohukohu and Motutī.
More goods were purchased using money donated via the charity’s website.
Bald Angels founder Therese Wickbom said the Far North community was awesome. Photo / Jenny Ling
Donations were also delivered to remote areas of the East Cape including Te Araroa, north of Gisborne.
“Through whānau connections there, we heard how remote communities in Tairāwhiti were also still desperate for support,” Wickbom said.
“So we reached out to Civil Defence-Te Araroa and Hinerupe Marae and ensured we got what was needed to where it was needed.
“We collected local donations, ordered kai and other emergency products and negotiated deals, engaged with amazing sponsors and mobilised the community to help.”
A message of thanks from Pastor Norm McLeod from the House of Breakthrough Church in Gisborne to Wickbom said the resources received from Bald Angels “helped hundreds if not thousands”.
“Just as important as the physical needs Bald Angels brought was the sense of hope and love based on the fact your organisation is hundreds of miles away, but you cared enough about us to send such an incredible gift of much-needed support,” McLeod said.
Other organisations and businesses in Kerikeri also chipped in to help the Bald Angels, including the Turner Centre who gave volunteers space to sort and pack the initial donations.
The Bald Angels collaborated with Kerikeri businesses to gather donations for cyclone recovery efforts.
“When it all got too big, Kainui Pack and Cool provided us with a warehouse and their staff helped wrap and move pallets of water, groceries and hygiene products,” Wickbom said.
One NZ in Kerikeri donated boxes of cellphones and The Warehouse Waipapa donated a pallet of extra nappies and formula.
“None of this would have happened without a huge community response; yes, led by Bald Angels, but only executed because of loads of good people across our communities,” Wickbom said.
Since Wickbom established the Bald Angels in 2012, the charity has helped hundreds of families by collecting donations and redistributing them via coalface organisations such as Women’s Refuge, police, Plunket, St John, and Hospice.
She has led numerous campaigns including Christmas food and toy drives, and the Keep Our Kids Warm Campaign, which sees the collection and distribution of warm clothing and blankets from the wider community to families in need.
In 2017, the charity was named the supreme winner of the Trustpower Far North Community Awards, and in 2023 Wickbom was a Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year top 100 finalist.
Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering roading, lifestyle, business, and animal welfare issues.
