Wairarapa Hospital and More FM Wairarapa staff with the 1300 donated DVDs – from back left, Jenny Burt, Saphron Yaxley, Craig Rohloff, Brent Gare, Hanna Hamilton, Kathryn Wadsworth, front left, Anna Coleman, and Sam Kjestrup. PHOTO/ ELISA VORSTER
ELISA VORSTER
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A call-out on social media from More FM Wairarapa’s Brent Gare has seen Wairarapa Hospital overwhelmed with more donations than it can handle.
It has been only four days since Gare asked the community to donate DVDs to the hospital to replace the 35 DVDs which went missing from one of the rooms used to comfort children in distress.
The hospital now has more than 1300 DVDs, a new TV and more than $1000 in cash donations.
“The response to the DVD request has been humbling to say the least and it is an example of what makes the Wairarapa community so unique,” the hospital’s acute services charge nurse manager, Kathryn Wadsworth, said.
“We as a service are here to help anyone who needs us and it is very clear that our community are equally as available to help us.”
Gare said he knew he had to help as soon as he heard about the missing DVDs.
“Stealing from kids is the lowest of the low,” he said.
“I thought ‘stuff that, I’m going to do something about it’.”
He expected they would get “a couple of hundred” DVDs but was blown away when they had already surpassed that figure on the first day.
Donations came from across the region and as far away as Wellington, Palmerston North and even Whangarei.
Although Gare had only asked for DVDs, the hospital was also generously donated a TV with inbuilt DVD player by 100% Newbolds Masterton, a $1000 cheque from Lee Malneek Limited and a $20 cash donation from a young girl named Maserati Neligan.
Wairarapa DHB communications manager Anna Cardno said she was overwhelmed by the quick response from the community.
“From the theft of a few comes the gift of thousands,” she said.
“BG’s swift call out on More FM was a genius initiative and his status updates by text to me were going up in the hundreds hourly.
“Although we will be sharing through our hospital wards and community services, there are far more DVDs here than we can give credit to.
“We will be discussing with More FM the opportunity to share the community’s goodwill with other deserving charities
“Wairarapa’s wonderful donors can rest assured that all these DVDs will find an appropriate home, for use by deserving children in need of a distraction.”
