Generous Bay residents praised for quake cash | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

Five days after the Haiti earthquake   Western Bay of Plenty  residents are making a  huge difference to those in need.

 Red Cross Midlands regional manager Patrick Cummings
 said a large percentage of the overall amount donated  had come from people in the Bay of Plenty.

"There are a lot of generous and caring people in the community.

"It's staggering the number of people who have donated," he said.

Mr Cummings said the response  had been overwhelming and with the amount of publicity, people  were only now beginning to realise how big of a disaster the Haiti earthquake was.

He said some people  had called it the worst disaster of all time.

"It's a big disaster and the more publicity about it, the more people see the state of things and the more they're going to give," he said. Initially, Mr Cummings was not sure what the response would be.

"New Zealanders have donated lots of money for more local causes, such as a Pacific disaster, which isn't so far away, so we weren't sure how people would donate to the Haiti fund because it is further away," he said.

Laura Ackland, of Red Cross New Zealand said people in New Zealand  had been very generous in their donations.

"Nationally, there was a spike over the weekend and so far Red Cross has raised over $200,000," she said.

"This figure includes online donations and 0900 number calls. It does not include bank deposits and cheque donations, which still have to be counted," she said.

Mrs Ackland said it  was hard to sort out where the donations had come from because many people (who donate online)  had not  left contact details.