“There was a time when you had a waiting list of people wanting to volunteer, but times have changed, so we have to work with what we have and do our best to keep those people with experience.
“This extension will help a lot with our crew going forward and accommodation at the station, which ultimately will allow us to carry on with our service.
“We’re really grateful to the Kaitāia Lions for doing this and to the Kaitāia community for all their support in buying raffle tickets.”
Of the 16,000 fire and emergency workers across the country, only 2000 are paid, with the remaining 14,000 volunteering their time all year round to serve their community.
The Kaitāia Fire Brigade is one of the busiest brigades due to its geographical area and has around 34 volunteers who rotate on a night shift roster, with four volunteers scheduled per shift for one truck.
Rogers said during the day, any callouts were subject to who was available at the time, which often meant cutting into precious work time.
He said the crew was currently gearing up for a very busy season, so any support from the community was much appreciated.
“We’re anticipating a busy summer, which is typical for this time of year, with an influx of people to the region,” Rogers said.
“The ground is also drying out very fast and we haven’t had much rain in the last month, so when you start to see the top of Kareponia Hill starting to brown off, you know it’s getting dry.
“This is around the same time the Waiharara fire started last year, so we’re grateful to everyone for their support, particularly all the employers of our crew and are humbled by this initiative.”
The idea to raise funds for the Kaitāia Fire Brigade was a team effort led by Kaitāia Lions member Grant Hammond, who came up with the idea in 2020.
Hammond said he’d been involved with something similar at the Kaikohe Lions Club some years ago and wanted to get the project off the ground when Covid-19 hit.
After two years of delays, Hammond said he began organising the trailer raffle earlier this year, and was blown away by the enthusiasm the club had received.
“The conversation was first raised when we were looking for ways to give our club a bit more of a profile in the community, while also supporting a recipient with a good cause,” Hammond said.
“Our two major sponsors were Kaitāia Mitre 10 and Kaitāia Pak’nSave, with Mitre 10 selling us a trailer at a discounted rate and Pak’nSave donating a large portion of the groceries.
“With Hammond Motors paying for the trailer’s registration and WoF, we worked out the total cost to be around $1900, which was then matched by the club with Pak’nSave grocery vouchers.”
Hammond explained Lions Club members began selling the raffle tickets at the start of October, and by late November had completely sold out.
Kaitāia Lions president Bryce McDonald said the initiative was similar to other fundraising initiatives run by Lions International for community volunteers.
McDonald said the club had previously raised funds for Hato Hone St John Ambulance, and was grateful to the people of Kaitāia for getting behind another worthy cause.
“I’d really like to thank the community for their support, because our volunteers are going to be especially busy in the next month-and-a-half with plenty more people in the region,” McDonald said.
“As a community, we need to help our services, so I’m very pleased with the results.
“This money goes directly back into the community, so we are hoping for this to become a yearly thing, with next year looking to raise funds for raised garden beds at the Switzer Home.”
Winners of the raffle were given the option of taking the trailer and groceries or $1900 worth of Pak’nSave vouchers.
D. Berghan (ticket number: 2555) took out first place and opted for the $1900 Pakn’Save vouchers, with M. Hicks (ticket number: 3502) receiving the trailer prize.
