A Motueka-based trucking company is donating a truck and trailer full of essential household supplies to help the recovery effort in the Hawke’s Bay region, which has been devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Westhaul managing director Karl Westrupp is calling for the public to donate household items that will be required in the recovery.

“Our trucks are frequent visitors to the Hawke’s Bay region with up to three loads per week. We usually transport in and out of the area. To see these floods wreak havoc on the lives of our customers and their family and friends is heartbreaking.”

Westrupp says people can donate “whatever they can find as long as it’s good – furniture, kitchen items, non-perishable foodstuffs, canned foods, clothing, blankets and bed linen.”

People can take items to Wairepo Holdings in Weka Road, Tasman. Goods must arrive by Monday evening and the truck will then head north on Tuesday morning on the Cook Strait ferry.

Westrupp says the Tasman area is similar to Hawke’s Bay, with many orchardists. One local orchardist asked if he could send some equipment to Hawke’s Bay and that encouraged him to spread the word.

He says other transport companies may also wish to join him by organising their own donations to cyclone-hit areas.

Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett says at times of disaster, trucking companies are at the forefront of the recovery and rebuild work.

For more information contact:
Karl Westrupp

(03) 528 8610, 027 568 9994