Cyclone Gabrielle: More volunteers still needed to help victims with laundry

Victoria Johnstone-Ormond lives in the shed at her parents' home in Pākōwhai. Photo / Warren Buckland

A volunteer group taking a little-known, but important, load off the minds of Hawke’s Bay’s cyclone victims needs more volunteers to continue its work.

HB Cyclone Laundry Network (HBCLN) began as a group of volunteers in February, offering their own time and resources to get the washing done for families who often did not have laundries and clean clothes as they were moved between temporary shelters.

Victoria Johnstone-Ormond and her family in Pākōwhai are living in a shed on the back of their flooded property.

They had been living in filthy clothing before the HBCLN found them, with no time to go to the laundromat, no power, washing powder or machine to do it themselves and discarded muddy outfits left in bags.

“Annabel [Annabel Mason, HBCLN co-founder] just came up the driveway, mud and all, and offered her service which was amazing because obviously we were covered in mud and silt every day from head to toe,” Johnstone-Ormond said.

It was more than just clothes, but also towels and bedding that came back to them fresh again.

“It was just another thing we didn’t have to worry about, it was amazing they just came in, brought the bags and explained how the process went. The fact that it is still happening almost five months later is amazing.”

“It is those smaller things that can mean heaps.”

Dayna Nuku, a Cyclone Gabrielle victim from Ōmahu whose family home is now in a Category Three area, has been getting help from the volunteers for a month now.

She said the time and financial cost of doing it herself had become too stressful.

“We had been going to the laundromat, which was so hard with the five kids,” Nuku said.

“They helped out heaps. It was a little thing that turned into a big thing and they were so lovely.”

HB Cyclone Laundry Network volunteers Hannah Bone and George Miller sort washing for flood-affected families in Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland

George Miller, HB Cyclone Laundry Network co-founder, believes that while it might seem like a small thing or even insignificant to many people but for those affected, it made a huge difference to mental health to be able to have clean clothes.

A few weeks ago, after washing thousands of loads of clothing, Miller said a new challenge had arisen with reduced resources and volunteer numbers.

“We couldn’t help as much as we wanted to because we didn’t have the resources. Our volunteer numbers have been dwindling and it was starting to cost them to do the drying either at home or at the laundromat,” she said.

She said they were lucky enough to have Mr Apple offer the use of commercial washing machines and dryers at one of its Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme properties, after they reached out for help.

“We did a test run in the new laundry hub last week with two times 2.5-hour shifts and got through 25 loads of laundry - so we could potentially do 125-150 loads a week - which means that we will be able to help a lot more families get through this winter,” Miller said.

The Evergreen Foundation also provided funding to help support the network, recruit new volunteers and provide volunteers with fuel vouchers and laundry powder.

James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz