Lights and sirens lit up the streets during the Mamaku Volunteer Fire Brigade’s annual door-to-door Christmas appeal last week, leaving the local fire station officer proud her small community showed up for the cause.
“We get together and we smash goals,” brigade station officer Kirstin Johnston said.
They collected 639 items valued at $1597.50 for the Rotorua Salvation Army Foodbank.
“A great result,” Johnston said.
It comes after the six-week Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal, supported by The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM, launched on November 9.
The annual appeal aims to collect donations of food and money to help fill the foodbank’s shelves, assisting the Salvation Army’s work through the Christmas period and into next year. The foodbank values items collected during the appeal at $2.50 each.
The Mamaku Christmas community walk had gone door to door for almost 10 years, collecting cans and other items to donate to the Salvation Army.
On Friday volunteer firefighters, accompanied by a fire truck and excited children on bikes and scooters, walked in a loop and visited every street on the way, starting and ending at the fire station in Mamaku St.
The group was excited by the Christmas spirit of giving and loved collecting donations with the brigade along the way, Johnston said.
“Just the look on some kids’ faces, you know, we turn up in a fire truck making a whole heap of noise and the kids are just like, ‘wow, there’s a fire truck’.
“The purpose of what we are there for is even greater, [kids] come out [of their homes] with a can of baked beans or a box of Weet-Bix and they know that they’re helping someone else that needs some help,” she said.
Johnston wanted the Rotorua community to know the Christmas Appeal was a great resource for whānau in need.
“Some of those kids themselves have needed help in the past and may well in the future because of the times that we face, it is pretty hard.
“For some people, it’s a lot to ask for help, but knowing that you do have that help at the Salvation Army is just next level and it’s a great thing.”
This year had been tougher for the Mamaku community when it came to the cost of living, she said.
“Mamaku is a little township and we have a dairy, a mechanic’s garage, and a fire station.
Even when people could only give two cans, “it’s a great amount, you know, for someone that is very hungry”.
“We’re not a big community but when times are needed, we get together and we smash goals, it’s great to see.”
Johnston said anyone over 16 could sign up to volunteer at the Mamaku Fire Brigade.
Youth volunteers met on Mondays from 6pm and reported to Johnston, who made sure training was still fun.
Last week they washed the local basketball courts down in preparation for summer holidays and completed the training with a water fight.
“Kids end up going home with grass and water all over them – that’s our fault,” she said.
Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.