KEY POINTS:
A fear of homesickness drove Vicki Smith to give a thousand hours of her time to improving the oral health of South Auckland children.
Leaving Australia meant leaving everything she knew - her friends, her neighbourhood, her job.
In Auckland, she decided to throw herself into volunteer work to meet people and get to know her new town.
Michelle Kidd of the South Auckland Health Foundation said that when Mrs Smith got in with the charity she was "determined not to get homesick. She thought that volunteer work would be a good way to meet people."
Her request for work came at the same time as SkyCity's trust donated $150,000 to improve the oral health of South Auckland children.
The money, combined in large part with Mrs Smith's unfaltering energy, produced 64,000 oral health packs, complete with toothpaste, toothbrush and educational material.
Mrs Smith packed more than 35,000 of the bags. "Her house and garage were just full of these things," Mrs Kidd said. "She was spending well in excess of 40 hours a week doing this non-stop for five months. Then she dropped them off. She didn't know where the suburbs were, and she used her own petrol. She was just awesome.
"We're a charity, and we can't afford to pay people to do it. But she was churning out thousands. She was invaluable."
Mrs Kidd said many of the families targeted in the drive had just one toothbrush per home. Through Mrs Smith's work, the state of South Auckland children's oral health would improve by a marked amount.
Mrs Smith said she was lucky to have the time and resources for volunteer work and enjoyed "giving something back, something constructive".
