A freezer and the use of a van have been donated to a Tauranga social service organisation that is stretching its resources to meet the increasing needs of the community during the Omicron outbreak.

This week Te Tuinga Whanau, which helps care for over 200 families, has been the recipient of a freezer, donated by The Warehouse at Fraser Cove, and also a van provided by members of the Tauranga Golf Club.

'Janine Cork from Te Tuinga Whanau came in and asked me for a discount as they are a social service organisation," says Fraser Cove Warehouse store manager Duncan Gardiner.

'I asked her what they were wanting to use it for. She said they needed a freezer as their last one had broken down. They use it to support the homeless and to keep their support for the community going."

The freezer is used to store meals and pies before being delivered.

'I thought this was great and said ‘how about instead of that, we donate a freezer?'. It's such a good cause. What they are doing for the community is so good.”

"I am a Kaimahi at Te Tuinga Whanau. I was asked to go to the Warehouse to purchase a freezer," says Janine. "After a discussion on what our mahi involves, Duncan offered to make our purchase a donation."

Te Tuinga Whanau, started by the Māori Women's Welfare League 37 years ago and named Te Tuinga by founding father Hauata Palmer, a respected kaumātua of Ngāiterangi Iwi, already has close relationships with Tauranga's women's shelter and the men's night shelter.

Takitimu House in Elizabeth Street provides homeless men with temporary shelter and access to services designed to break the cycle of homelessness. Awhina House, which opened in 2019, offers sustained accommodation for homeless women.

Seven years ago Te Tuinga Whanau established Whare Tauranga which is located on the corner of The Strand and McLean Street. The trust started there with one family and one house opened by Te Ururoa Flavell and the organisation's patron, Sir Paul Adams. Today Te Tuinga Whānau is providing a service to over 210 families and individuals across 24 homes and four motels, including RSA Tauranga.

On Friday, Te Tuinga Whanau Chief Imagination Officer Tommy Wilson said that 41 families had approached their organisation by noon that day.

'We usually have 80 families a week, these are usually mothers with children. But we already had 41 just that morning,” says Tommy.

'It's really hard for our staff as they want to leave people with hope. There were mothers crying with nowhere to go and now also scared about Covid.

"We could get them into a motel, but some motel owners are charging up to $2000 a week. And we are not just about finding them accommodation. We will work with them with a social worker to help them deal with the many issues they face.

'There are multiple layers of challenges to deal with. And now they face Covid on top of that.”

Tommy says that people need to know what the true face of poverty looks like in Tauranga.

'My focus is to keep my staff sane, and ensure I call them out when I see that they are needing a rest. It's really hard on staff to deal with some of these situations.”

Because of the Omicron outbreak, Tommy has split his staff into two teams running on alternate days.

'Closing our service due to staff getting Covid is just not an option,” says Tommy. 'We are a lifeline for these families that are really desperate.”

He says that Te Tuinga Whanau already have some staff members with Covid, and others having to isolate.

'So that's putting strain on us.”

On asking what the community can do to help support the staff at Te Tuinga Whanau, Tommy says this is a good wakeup for people to appreciate what they've got and find a way to pitch in and help.

'Everyone's got time. Thank goodness for Good Bitches Baking. Just like our homeless need to know that we care about them, we also need to know that our community cares about our staff.

'We needed a freezer and Duncan Gardiner and Fraser Cove Warehouse donated us one. The Tauranga Golf Club helped us too - they provided us with a van so we can take food out to people. That's such a great taonga to get kai out to people who are really desperate.”

'And thank God for people who have been planning ahead or it would be so chaotic. This brings out the best in people,” says Tommy.

'I like what they're doing,” says Duncan. 'It's awesome. So I decided to donate them a freezer from The Warehouse Fraser Cove.”

To help support the staff at Te Tuinga Whanau or to find out how to help, please email tommy@ttw.org.nz