The community gardening group Whenua Warrior has been “overwhelmed” by “heartfelt” public support since it was fleeced of all its tools in Northland just before Christmas.

Within four days of media coverage about its plight, donations to the group’s Givealittle page, which aimed to raise $7000 to replace the stolen items and fix two vehicles that were vandalised, had swelled to more than $10,000 from 168 donors.

And someone had owned up to the theft with an agreement made for him to apologise by helping the group with its work.

Five women and eight of their children from the South Auckland-based trust, which was recognised as NZ Gardener of the Year in 2023, had only been up north for six days when thieves took the tools from a locked yard at a Māori church, where the group was staying in central Kaikohe.

The offenders kicked in a wooden fence and poked holes in a wire one.

Four days later on Boxing Day, two of the group’s vehicles were targeted.

Trust founder Kelly Francis said the loss of the tools meant the group couldn’t do projects it had planned to help families ahead of Christmas.

The offending also left them fearing for their safety in the township.

However, the public’s response to their story had restored the group’s faith in humanity.

“I absolutely didn’t expect our story to reach as far as it has and to have so many loving and heartfelt and supportive comments and people who have literally gone out of their way to just spread the love and restore our faith in communities, which has been quite overwhelming and very humbling,” Francis said.

“I’ve had people as far away as Hawaii, Rarotonga and the South Island communicate to us how sorry they are that this has happened and how they know that something like this can really alter the confidence of a charity - especially one that’s been saving up those tools for such a long time (seven years).”

A group from South-Auckland based Whenua Warrior charitable trust is in Northland this summer to work on a variety of community gardening initiatives.

Francis said that thanks to CCTV footage made available by the Kaikohe Business Association she knew the person who’d owned up to the offending was not the only one involved. However, she would let matters rest.

“I’m happy to close this off and carry on with life, especially because we’ve got the cash to cover the cost of the tools and we can get some extra tools for the kids.”

Moving forward, the group’s goal was to continue building garden boxes for the community. They hoped to employ a local to help them.

Conversations with several Kaikohe locals had made her realise just how small the township was and the challenges it faced.

She had been given assurances by numerous people that they would keep an extra eye on any mischievous relatives and friends who might have been involved.

“There’s still a little bit of fear [among our group] of going into town at the wrong time but other than that our ladies are feeling safe and we’re back to gardening.”

The group would also be running classes at its church base during January to discuss strengthening and supporting Northland charities and other community organisations.

“I’m teaching about Māori governance and how to build a trust, we’re going to be doing some indigenous food technique classes and I’m really looking forward to building some garden boxes and getting them out into the community as well - now that we’ve got some money to buy the drills and screws and stuff back.”

Support had come in a variety of ways from a range of sources including from a group of gardeners from surrounding areas who arrived with tools and materials to fix the fences damaged by the thieves.

The church had offered to replace all the group’s tools and there’d also been financial support from businesses and corporations, Francis said.

She said a large number of little donations on the Givealittle page were especially important to her “because I can see that it’s people who have received something from us and want to help us to get back into the community and to keep going”.

Francis believed many people were touched by the group’s plight not just because they were visiting volunteers with a mission to help communities grow food but also because the theft was one to which many “tradies” could relate.

“The worst nightmare for a ‘tradie’ is to lose your tools. It’s nearly impossible to get them all back and it feels like you have to start again because you know your tools and then have to buy new ones and they work differently,” she said.

- Northern Advocate