Coca-Cola Europacific Partners New Zealand (CCEP NZ) has supported the Cyclone Gabrielle relief effort by donating NZD 70,000 to the Cyclone Gabrielle Community Support Give-a-little campaign second-largest campaign in Give-a-little’s history. Additionally, CCEP NZ donated more than 50 pallets of water to the hard-hit regions, which equates to 25,800 bottles of 1.5L Kiwi Bluewater.
As well as providing financial relief, CCEP NZ’s local employees rolled up their sleeves to offer on-the-ground support. One such employee was Hawkes Bay and Gisborne's resident and Sales Manager, Sarah Crasborn. Crasborn went above and beyond in leading CCEP NZ’s local relief efforts after Cyclone Gabrielle devastated much of the east coast. Crasborn created and organised a free mini-supermarket of essential items, distributed water to the community and drove from Wellington to Hawkes Bay to bring fuel and food to those without.
Crasborn has worked at CCEP NZ for seven years and considers her team as her family. Her mother, father, and brother all work for CCEP New Zealand, with her father working in distribution for the last 35 years.
“I felt responsible for my team at CCEP NZ and our community and wanted to ensure they were safe. I knew many of them would be scared and wanted to do everything I could to ease the pressure,” said Crasborn.
To further her efforts, Crasborn and the CCEP head office organised for essential items such as food, nappies, and fuel to be readily available to her team and community-led donations to the civil defence.
“After the cyclone, there was no power, roads were closed, and people ran out of fuel as they checked in on their loved ones. There was a huge fear that people would run out of fuel and then need to evacuate again but not be able to.”
Crasborn focused on the resources she had access to through CCEP NZ and her family.
As most of the community did not have access to safe water, in addition to the water donated to Civil Defence, Crasborn worked with CCEP NZ’s head office to secure additional pallets of water to be delivered and distributed in the Hawkes Bay region. She and other CCEP NZ volunteers spent their weekend handing out water to civil defence and community members involved in clean-up efforts and those unable to access safe drinking water.
Internally, CCEP NZ also offered flexible work arrangements to support affected staff and created internal opportunities to donate to charities that provided on-the-ground support to hard-hit communities. The employee donations were just shy of NZD 10,000 and were presented to Auckland City Mission and the New Zealand Red Cross.
