SIT Supports Cyclone Gabrielle Relief Efforts With Southland Aid Shipment

An epic eight-day effort saw 14 pallets of donated goods travel 1600 km from Southland to Auckland on Tyler Wainui’s freight truck, despite roadworks and restrictions. The pallets contained essential items for communities devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle in the Hawkes Bay.

SIT was offered as a drop-off point for aid donations during student orientation week. Jodi Conway, Team Leader of Student Support Services, got involved after seeing on social media that local transport company, Wainui Transport Ltd/Mainfreight, was organising a shipment of resources to take to Hawkes Bay.

Kaimahi across SIT and the wider community contributed urgently needed supplies, such as toiletries and medical supplies. The goods were gathered, sorted, packaged, and labelled by SIT’s Student Support Services team at the main Invercargill campus before being delivered to Wainui Transport.

The response from Southlanders was overwhelming, and Tyler Wainui was “pretty humbled” by the level of generosity shown towards friends, family, and all those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Mr Wainui, a truck driver contracted to Mainfreight, approached the Invercargill team with the idea of delivering aid, and they donated the pallets.

The mercy dash couldn’t have happened without the support of Mainfreight, and the 14 pallets were loaded on Monday 27th February, departing for Auckland later that day. Although Mr Wainui was unable to deliver the goods directly, the aid still had another 5-600 km to go to reach Gisborne, but Mainfreight colleagues stepped in to help.

The first pallets were due to reach the Te Karaka area in the first week of March, and the remaining pallets were also to be delivered. Mr Wainui extended a massive thanks to all their business partners, community groups, clubs, and schools.