Warwick Smith/Stuff
Cooper Jackson, 12, told his mum that if their family got flooded, he’d still want chocolate. So he set about amassing boxes of non-essential but definitely delicious goodies for families in Dartmoor Valley, Hawke’s Bay.
A 12-year-old boy is ensuring the sweet tooth isn’t being neglected among supplies to isolated communities recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Cooper Jackson in Manawatū has amassed “treat boxes” of chippies, chocolate, fizzy drinks and other delights bound for 61 families in Dartmoor Valley.
The rural Hawke’s Bay settlement, 30 kilometres north-west of Napier, was cut-off when floodwaters washed away a bridge on February 14.
“Apparently they’d been stuck on the other side of a river,” said Cooper, “and only just had a pedestrian bridge built, but they still had to fly stuff over by helicopter.
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“We thought, well, they’ve already got the essentials, so we might as well get them the treat foods they can’t really ask for. Someone might be missing ginger beer, which they might really want.”
Cooper was alerted to Dartmoor’s plight having already fund-raised and collected lunch supplies and wish-list items for residents in Pōrangahau.
Following the cyclone his mum Shah Willoughby put a post on the Little Waka for Hawke’s Bay Facebook page saying her son was eager to help in any way he could.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
Food donations from individuals and businesses, as well as an epic trip to supermarket, have contributed Cooper’s treat boxes.
The goodwill is fuelling the North Street School student’s William Pike Challenge, a national programme that comprises outdoor activity, community service and a passion project.
It took the boy from Awahuri only a week to clock the 20 hours of community service the programme required. But he just kept going.
He raised $129 from a raffle, $373 from a bake sale, and has collected donated items from more than 100 homes throughout the region.
And it hasn’t been a case of mum doing most of the legwork.
“I told Cooper right from the start, when he asked for help, I’m not going to go in and speak to people,” Willoughby said.
“I’ll drive you around, and I’ll put the posts on social media, because he doesn’t have that, but he’s the one who has to knock on doors.
“Sometimes he disappears in a house for 10 minutes and comes out with a treat for himself, and he’s hugging them when he leaves, and they think he’s just great.”
She said a lot of people who supported Cooper felt at the time their contribution, be it $5, $10 or a packet of chippies, was too small, but they could now see that wasn’t the case.
“All these little donations have built up to be this big thing.”
SUPPLIED
Eleven-year-old Josh West crossed the finish line on Saturday after running a marathon over the course of a week to raise money for his cyclone-affected classmates
Cooper said it was cool when businesses, large and small, joined in, such as Bunnings staff each bringing in a bag of chippies, and Farmlands donating 20 boxes of scorched almonds.
When shopping for treats with $200 donated by Manawatū district mayor Helen Worboys, he was literally a kid in a candy store.
“When we were purchasing stuff for the school lunches and treat boxes, we discovered some funny brands, like Funny Mushrooms [biscuits], which are funny and quite interesting.”
Cooper, who wants to be a chef when he grows up and whose own favourite treat is salted caramel scorched almonds, is already planning his next tasty fundraiser; a sausage sizzle to support I Am Hope.
The treat boxes are to be trucked to Dartmoor this Saturday.
