From tomorrow, customers at supermarkets across Australia and New Zealand can stand by the communities impacted by the devastating effects of Cyclone Gabrielle with in-store fundraising activated at Countdown and Woolworths stores. All of the money raised will go towards helping those affected by the Cyclone.

As part of its response to the catastrophic weather events across the North Island in the last few weeks, Countdown has donated over $430,000 in food and funds to help organisations providing on-the-ground assistance and support to the most impacted communities.

Countdown has also delivered over 70 tonnes of water, meat, fruit, vegetables and other essentials to evacuation centres in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

Countdown’s Managing Director, Spencer Sonn, says that the entire Countdown team stands by the communities most affected by the recent weather events.

“It’s been an incredibly tough few weeks for people across Aotearoa, including for many of our own team and our supply partners, and we know the coming days and weeks won’t be easy either”

“Recovery efforts will stretch over months and our teams will continue to stand together with our customers and partners to support impacted communities, as well as provide further support to our charity partners to help those most in need to recover.”

“We’re really pleased that our colleagues at Woolworths supermarkets in Australia feel passionately about this as well and are showing this by fundraising too, and we hope that our combined efforts across the Tasman will go some way towards helping Kiwis get back on their feet”

“I also want to say a massive thank you to our team of 22,000 who have done a phenomenal job of serving our local communities in some incredibly challenging circumstances over the last couple of weeks. I’m incredibly grateful for their dedication to making sure Kiwis could get the essentials through all that’s happened”

“We absolutely appreciate that not everyone will be in a position to donate in our stores but if you can round up, it will help make a difference to recovery efforts”

Round up will begin from 22 February in Countdown stores across Aotearoa, New Zealand.