We are there for communities

The Salvation Army is providing emergency relief and will provide longer-term support to communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and the earlier heavy rains and flooding.

The Salvation Army continues to have staff in towns and cities in all the affected regions: Northland, Auckland, East Coast and the Hawke’s Bay.

Our people live and work in these communities, and while extra staff are being temporarily deployed, we may recruit additional staff depending on what services are required.

We will continue to be there long after the emergency response is finished, offering practical help and support, and working with people as they rebuild their lives over the long-term recovery effort and beyond.

Our emergency and recovery response

Our emergency response includes:

• preparing prepacked food parcels in Auckland, Hamilton and Palmerston North for delivery to Gisborne, Napier and Hastings
• preparing meals in Gisborne
• serving hot meals and refreshments at the Napier Fire Station for emergency teams
• pastoral care and support for members of local communities, including for example, welfare checks of people in Piha and Muriwai in Auckland
• deployment of 10 Salvation Army staff to Auckland Emergency Management as part of Rapid Building Assessment teams
• coordination with Civil Defence.

Our community-based services such as Community Ministries and Addictions, Supportive Housing, and Reintegration Services continue to operate.

As we move from emergency to recovery assistance over the coming weeks and months, the type of longer-term help we provide involves the assessment of people’s circumstances and the provision of necessary wrap-around support. This includes:

• psycho-social support; for example, helping people to deal with grief and loss
• providing information about available support and advocacy with government and other organisations
• food parcels
• financial mentoring
• provision of Family Store goods such as clothing, furniture and kitchenware
• life-skills programmes.

How to donate

Monetary donations allow our teams to use funds for urgent purchases and provides a more responsive and adaptive response. Donated funds also help to reinvigorate local economies where businesses may struggle to get back on their feet, removing the associated costs and logistical difficulties associated with moving around donated goods by truck or air. With money donations, more of the donations go to support disaster-affected individuals and families.

• Call our Supporter Service Team Call 0800 53 00 00 to donate using your debit or credit card—need to mention Cyclone. If you want your donation to go to a particular location (e.g., Napier), provide this information as well.
• Through our website Visit www.salvationarmy.org.nz and click the ‘Make a Donation’ button. Donate using your credit card. In the comments field type—Cyclone and location (e.g., Napier).
• The Foodbank Project Our online donation platform for food and grocery items, is another great way to donate items that are then delivered by Countdown to our Salvation Army Foodbanks. This mechanism focuses on the food and grocery response that will support communities today and through the coming months, as your donations sustain our foodbanks. Donate to The Foodbank Project here: www.foodbank.org.nz/emergencyresponse 
• Internet Banking Our bank account number is BNZ 02-0568-0091726-00. Please enter your Supporter number in the ‘reference’ field. Add Cyclone in the Code Field. Add location (e.g., Napier) in the Particulars field. Once you have made your donation through internet banking, please email us at public.relations@salvationarmy.org.nz with your contact details and donation amount so we can send you a receipt as soon as possible.
• At Till in any of our Family Stores. Simply let the staff know that you wish to make a donation and they can select the button set up to direct the funds to the relief work.

People may still donate goods such as clothing and furniture to their local Salvation Army Family Store. Where it is practical logistically, such donated goods can go directly to disaster-affected families, for example, goods donated in Auckland can be redistributed in Auckland. In other cases, such as where it is not practical or economic to move goods over long distances, goods will be sold, and the money used to support The Salvation Army’s work.