Collective Hug offers help after disaster strikes in Bay

them is so heartwarming.”

Over a coffee at the Paper Mulberry, Travis Henry of Henry’s Pies came on board, using product donated by First Light Meats and Anzco to produce meat pies.

Women from Auckland sent pallets of meals, Taranaki Rural Women sent two pallets of meals and baking.

“I made best friends with people all over the countryside who have chillers. In the early days, We got given sugar, flour, rice and pasta to make meals. My grandkids’ bedroom was full of foodstuffs. Makirikiri Marae have picked up product to cook with, they cook weekly for distribution.”

Greer is adamant that The Collective Hug is a collective effort.

“There is absolutely no ‘I’ in team,” she insists.

“I could do all I like but there’s no way I could co-ordinate let alone complete all these deliveries. The Collective Hug relies on all our bakers and cooks and deliverers, and the goodwill of other people. We have a co-ordinator in most districts, from Putorino to Pongaroa, they choose the date and let me know how many parcels will be required, I organise the goodies and help pack. Then we let the district know we’re coming.”

“You really have to see it to get the full impact. I travelled some beautiful country that has been completely decimated. Hawke’s Bay is still beautiful, but it has some very big scars that will take a long time to heal.

“The reaction when people get a parcel just makes my day. I love doing

A few of the 3000 donated paper bags being filled with goodies for a delivery run.

the deliveries on a fine day, but it’s just as important to be out there on a vile day. This random woman/man turns up and hands you a care package — it’s an acknowledgment of what has happened out in our rural areas, to our rural people. There’s still a lot of trauma out there.

“I was interviewed for radio, after the initial Collective Hug initiative in 2020, I was asked if there was another drought would I do it again and I said — yes, in a heartbeat, never thinking it might be a cyclone.”

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To donate goods, funds or time to The Collective Hug, contact them on Facebook at Collective Hug HB or email collectivehughb@gmail.com

The famed fruit cake that started the whole thing is still included in many of the packages.

Diana Greer and some of the air crew and volunteers who flew parcels into Tutira.

Donations from Taranaki filled this freezer.

Diana Greer, the spark behind the Collective Hug team.