KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of low-income family homes will be warmer this winter thanks to a donation of curtains.
An Auckland hotel has undergone a renovation and donated old curtains from more than 200 of its rooms to a Waikato charity, Curtain Bank.
Pamela Storey, executive chairwoman of the Huntly Energy Efficiency Trust, which runs Curtain Bank, says the donation ensures the initiative will meet its 2008 target of 300 underprivileged homes fitted with curtains.
"It is enough inventory to easily supply 300 homes, perhaps even more."
Operating since July 2006, the Curtain Bank recycles donated curtains and distributes them via social agencies to needy homes throughout the Waikato.
Storey says curtains are a cost-effective way of making a "significant difference" in heating poorly insulated homes.
"Homes lose up to 12 per cent of heat out of windows that are not adequately covered."
She says the CityLife hotel donation was special because all the curtains were the same, so homes can be fitted with matching curtains throughout.
The initiative is one of many projects run by the non-profit trust, which provides subsidised insulation for homes in the region.
Cold, damp housing has been linked to the incidence of chronic respiratory diseases, among other health problems.
