One of the many advantages of working at The Gift Trust is that while we read all the news about hard things happening across the country and around the world, we also hear about the organisations and individuals, big and small, who are doing the hard work to fix things up and prevent them from happening again. These are people who give so much of their time and skills to lift up our communities. And they need our help!
After a summer like we’ve just had I think we’d be hard pressed to deny the impact of climate change on Aotearoa New Zealand. And as so much of the giving we do on behalf of our donors is aimed at creating a more equitable world, it’s not hard to see that the greatest impact has been on small, coastal, predominantly Māori communities.
Whether it is in Te Tai Tokerau, Te Tai Rāwhiti, the Coromandel or Tauranga Moana, the storms have given these communities a battering lately and there are several groups working to help them rebuild, replace and sometimes even relocate their houses, marae and local businesses.
In the East Cape, temporary housing, petrol for diggers to clear the silt and helicopters to deliver supplies became very present needs as the roads to Hicks Bay and other areas remained damaged.
Charities like Manaaki Matakāoa and Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust have made a short term shift from their business as usual to being the lynchpins that holds their tiny communities together, working with other charities, the NZ Defence Force, Iwi and local government to ensure their people are warm and dry, fed, clothed and connected with the services they need at this terrible time.
As the debris is cleared, the celebrations have begun, hosting face painting and races on the beach for the kids, free massages and karaoke for the grownups!
If you’d like to support a charity doing the rebuilding of impacted communities get in touch with The Gift Trust team.
But what can we do to prevent this from happening again?
Cyclone Gabrielle was such a short time ago and yet here we are again. Of course all our advocacy and carbon reduction is focused on the big picture goal of stopping climate change in its tracks and that goal will always be enormously important.
On a community level, building resilience is key and this can be done in a number of ways:
- Rebuilding on stilts to reduce the risk of flood damage and re-locating key buildings, such as marae, which are critical infrastructure in the recovery process that supports resilience.
- Disaster preparedness training, funding of emergency supplies and building community connections all add up to create a region that will ‘get through’ another disaster.
- Building their own solar electricity arrays means that they don’t lose power when electricity lines are damaged and the Iwi Chairs’ Forum are now funding the installation of solar power in rural marae.
Māori communities all over the country are being supported by the National Iwi Chairs’ Forum to have the conversations about their risk for adverse weather events and how they could best prepare. Māori communities generally have less capital and in the East Cape are placed in some of the most exposed locations to Climate related weather events.
Hono, the Māori Emergency Management Network, works under the umbrella of the remarkable kaupapa Māori organisation, Te Tira Whakamātaki. In 2025 their team toured the kura (schools) of the East Cape, walking children through emergency plans for a range of potential disasters, gave them fun, bilingual story books about packing a ‘go-bag’ and how to recognise the threat of a slip and then taught them fun games like ‘stretcher races’, bandaging each other up and racing up the hill to a safe place.
Marae are ideal civil defence locations with their large kitchens, plentiful bedding, solar electricity and all the manaakitanga offered by Māori communities.
The Long Haul
The small settlement of Te Karaka was badly damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle and several donors from The Gift Trust supported the community in the early days after the storm. As part of the recovery process the town’s badly damaged marae is being moved to higher ground, ensuring both the cultural safety of the local people and physical safety to locals in need of a safe place to be cared for and sleep after a flood.
The community are rebuilding together, with Te Aitanga a Māhaki Trust leading the way with Māhaki Tiaki Tangata, their Iwi-led emergency response management team, also based in Te Karaka. The Iwi are also working with the National Iwi Chairs’ Forum climate work, Pou Take Āhuarangi, to install a solar farm in the area.
If supporting vulnerable communities to prepare for future weather events sounds like your cup of tea, get in touch with us here at The Gift Trust and we’ll help you find the perfect charitable connection for you.
