Media releases 2011

 

27 July 2011: New life for condemned curtains

Curtains from a condemned retirement home are salvaged this Friday and provided for free to struggling households. Staff from Christchurch business Arc Innovations are donating their time to remove the curtains which will be distributed to needy families through local charity Community Energy Action.

The soon to be demolished Churchill Courts retirement home approached local charitable trust Community Energy Action who has been running a Curtain Bank for 16 years. The charity’s Curtain Bank provides thermal curtains donated by the public to low incomes households for free. Thermal curtains are a good way to reduce heat loss from windows.

Community Energy Action lost their building in September and again in February. They have re-opened their Insulation Service and Energy Advice Service since with the Curtain Bank re-opening on Tuesday 9 August.

“We have worked hard to re-open the Curtain Bank but now we are desperate to receive curtains so we can start helping people again,” says Sheila Hailstone, acting Chief Executive of Community Energy Action Charitable Trust. “We have many people in need now it’s so cold and it’s fantastic to get these curtains.”

“Arc staff are excited to help Community Energy Action with their Curtain Bank,” says Simon Clarke, Chief Executive of Arc Innovations. “Although many of our staff also have had to deal with damage to or loss of homes, we have been lucky to have a secure work place. That’s why we wanted to help those less fortunate by assisting Community Energy Action with the removal of these curtains.”

Based in Christchurch, Arc has been at the forefront of smart metering services in New Zealand and has installed nearly 130,000 smart meters in homes and businesses throughout the country.

“We are very grateful for Arc’s help,” says Ms Hailstone. “This has been a very trying year for us as a charity and, although we need the curtains, we simply don’t have the capacity to remove them from the retirement home. This is a great team effort of all.”

The Churchill Courts retirement home which until last year could house up to 90 elderly people was badly damaged in the September earthquake and condemned after the February one. The buildings are safe to enter but the land is so damaged, they will need to be demolished.

As well as providing free curtains, Community Energy Action has a phone service for free home energy advice (0800 388 588). It also provides subsidised insulation and heating for all incomes with surpluses going to higher subsidies for vulnerable people.

“We’re there to keep the community warm,” Ms Hailstone says.

11 May 2011: Local charity sees nearly 4000 homes insulated  

In Christchurch, a large part of the 100,000 houses insulated nationwide under the government’s Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart subsidy scheme have been insulated by local charity Community Energy Action. Prime Minister John Key today cut the ribbon to the 100,000th house to have benefited from the scheme.

Since the start of the scheme in 2009, Community Energy Action has insulated 3,873 homes in Canterbury of which 2,883 were the homes of low income households (Community Services Card holders).

“We had thought that many people would put investments such as insulation and heating on hold after the February earthquake, says Bede Martin, Chief Executive of Community Energy Action Charitable Trust. “However, the interest in insulation is as high as ever and we are frantically busy. People realise insulation makes their homes warmer, drier and healthier.”

The trust provides subsidies for insulation and heating to all incomes but is one of few organisations in Christchurch that provides the higher subsidy for Community Services Card holders. Any surpluses go towards even higher subsidies for those who cannot afford to keep warm even with the subsidies.

The trust which saw its premises severely damaged in the February earthquake, expects to relocate to New Brighton in the next couple of weeks. “We feel that we need to be closer to the majority of our main target group, those on low incomes, in the east, although we recognise that there are cold houses and low income households everywhere in the city.”

The trust has been insulating houses since 1994. It also runs a curtains bank (closed until new premises are found) where donated curtains are recycled into the homes of those who cannot afford good curtains to retain heat. A free advice service (0800 388 588) provides home energy advice over the phone and per email.

A Canterbury trust working to make houses warmer and drier has been made homeless for the second time in 5 months but vows to keep going. Community Energy Action Charitable Trust’s Hazeldean premises, where they had moved to after the September earthquake destroyed their Moorhouse Ave building, were badly damaged in the latest quake. Despite the set-backs, the charitable trust will keep working and has already restarted insulation services in Rangiora last week.

“We are very fortunate that all of our staff are safe,” says Bede Martin, Chief Executive of Christchurch-based Community Energy Action. “Our sponsors and suppliers, especially lines company MainPower, are very supportive and are helping us in any way they can which is why we have been able to resume insulation installations so soon after this disaster.”

“Throughout Canterbury there are still a lot of people living in cold, damp homes so we still have a job to do. In fact if people want to help us they can, by asking us to install their home insulation and heating. We have insulation and heating subsidies for all incomes and any surpluses are used to provide higher subsidies to those who cannot afford insulation.”

“We also hope to fully re-open the Home Energy Advice Centre over the coming week.” The Home Energy Advice Centre provides free home energy advice over the phone 0800 388 588 or email canterbury@energyadvice.co.nz.

Community Energy Action’s retail shop and Curtain Bank will remain closed for now. People can check Community Energy Action’s website www.cea.co.nz for contact details and further details on when these services will resume operations.