Six days after Christchurch’s devastating February 2011 earthquake, Andrea Cummings stood and watched an elderly man wash his dishes in the gutter outside her wrecked shop in North New Brighton.
The next day Andrea decided to do something to help – This story that talks about how she transformed an initial $50 investment into a welfare centre in the car park of her shop, the Bowhill Mower Centre which went on to feed thousands of people a day, supplying food, nappies, water, hot food and eventually toilets. The toilets were buckets with lids with a toilet seat cut into them. They were created and distributed by the Rangiora Earthquake Express. .
Over the next three weeks Andrea and her amazing volunteer team gave away over $250,000 worth of donated food, water, emergency supplies and even toilets!
The book follows not only the physical history of the welfare centre but also the emotional journey of both the community and the volunteers. It also seeks to identify what went right and wrong for the whole city in the official and unofficial responses, offering a view from within the midst of the worst hit areas.
This is her story.
Available as a Kindle download from Amazon – Would You Like A Toilet With That?
Available as an Apple download from iTunes – Would You Like A Toilet With That?
Paperback version with postage within NZ via PayPal
Paperback version with postage within US via PayPal