One man and his digger could be the difference between the loss of an apple crop, and the loss of a family’s livelihood.

Moved by media reports of the cyclone damage in Hawke’s Bay, Lyall Corston-Jackson of LCJ Truck and Machinery in Tauranga, arranged a week off work and reached out to genLend to see how he might help.

In the meantime, genLend became aware of Geoff Alexander’s plight. The 3rd generation farmer in Puketapu was at risk of losing his orchard and desperately needed a digger to help clear silt away from the base of the trees.

“The silt is 3in deep and seals off oxygen from the soil,” Mr Alexander said. He’d found research out of Nelson showing that within a month it can suffocate the trees. “It also causes the bark to rot, effectively ring-barking the trees and cutting off the flow of nutrients,” he said.

Connecting the two was a great example of what genLend is all about, according to Rev. Jill McDonald, of Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Hastings, where the initiative was developed to bring borrowed machinery from around the country into Hawkes Bay as part of the disaster response.

“Many people have gear and want to help when they see the devastation. So it’s matching those who want to give, with people who urgently need their help,” she said.

With the job lined up, Lyall loaded up his 1.8t JCB digger and a generator last weekend, and headed for Puketapu, collecting a generator from another genLend donor in Turangi on the way.

He started at the Alexander’s property on Sunday and worked tirelessly to scoop silt from the base of trees in the worst hit block. He covered about 4ha in just a few days, over 4000 trees.

The crop was lost to the flood, just one week away from harvest, but this effort was about the future. “Hopefully we’ve managed to save the orchard,” Lyall said.

Mr Alexander agrees. “To lose the crop was devastating, but to lose the trees… the jobs gone. It was really important to do what we could to save the trees.”

“Lyall has been absolutely magic, an amazing guy. He worked in the rain, scraped mud away from the trunks, and dug the drain back around the whole block, ” Mr Alexander said. “He was completely self contained, even used his own diesel. Unbelievable.”

While he was working at Puketapu, Lyall’s generator was helping elsewhere too, and he also loaned his trailer to genLend to help move other assets around the region.

Lyall said he’s been putting lots of people onto the community initiative to support the work. “I’m absolutely pleased with how it’s gone with genLend. It’s been quite outstanding,” he said.

As he heads back to Tauranga this weekend, Lyall has no regrets. “I did have a lot of people saying why not just wait and see what needs to happen, but I knew people needed help now, not in a week,” he said.

“The need is so great, it’s hard to imagine you’re even making a dent. I’m only one guy, what difference does it make? But I guess it’s one hour less that those affected have to put in,” he said. “It’s just nice to be able to come down and be able to help.”

genLend has deployed nearly 50 loaned and donated generators to the relief effort in its first 2 weeks, along with six bobcats and diggers.

“As power is being restored, people are returning the generators and we are able to redeploy them,” said Aaron Doody, operations lead for genLend. “Because of that, we probably have enough generators for now, but there is still a great need for small diggers and operators, and other gear,” he said.

Geoff Alexander can attest to that, with removing silt from the property the next big job. But at least he, and his trees, can breathe easier after Lyall’s efforts this week.

“We want to thank you guys for organising it and being available to help. It means so much the way everyone has pitched in.”

© Scoop Media