Mobile shower service for homeless doubles efforts in pandemic
A free mobile shower and laundry service for homeless people has expanded its efforts in response to rising demand in the pandemic.
Orange Sky launched its second van in Auckland this week.
Operations manager Eddie Uini said the demand for services doubled during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“Before Covid hit our first van was doing nine shifts a week, once we got to level 2 we were doing 17 shifts a week with our first van,” he said.
“That’s pretty much our maximum capacity, and we were still getting emails from places further south, out west and on the North Shore.”
The new van will operate in Manurewa, Papakura, Glen Eden and Auckland CBD.
It will allow Orange Sky to increase its availability from 17 to 25 shifts a week.
Uini said a lot of families have starting using Orange Sky’s services in Manurewa, Papakura and Onehunga.
“If they can save another 20 or 30 dollars at the laundromat, that’s another 20 or 30 dollars for food on the table,” he said.
Orange Sky wants locals to name the new van in honour of a local hero who’s helped make a difference in the community.
Comment below your idea for what the new van should be called.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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