Many thanks for such a great effort. Right now I would give anything to come up to your wonderful region, grab a yacht from Opua and go sailing for a few weeks, and collect the cheque personally. (Notice sailing first then the cheque, the other way round,- well it is tempting.)
Today was very traumatic for many with 2 big shakes of 5.1 and 4.1. Several staff could not cope being away from family so went home. People are feeling anxiety and stress in different ways,and to know that people such as the Kerikeri BNI chapter are showing such generosity is really a great moral booster.

Many thanks, you are living the Givers Gain philosophy to the fullest.

So, very proudly I can say; Kerikeri Chapter did it.
With the contribution from the US we “feel pretty good about ourselves” generating $600 for the needy in Christchurch.
The good feeling is, it shows that we care.
And, we put people before profit.

On the strength of it – givers gain – have a happy day.
‘cos up here in Kerikeri we’re gunna!
Regards,
Dave Keen

It is now Tuesday afternoon and for some of us who have had a second day at work, we are now starting to feel the impact of the weekends massive earthquake. Last night we had another series of major aftershocks at 11.30 pm and again at 3.30pm. Several shakes were over 4 and two were as high as 5.4 on the Richter scale which had caused more destruction to already weakened buildings. The emotional toll is now having a huge effect on everyone. A lack of sleep, high anxiety and traumatised children. Missing pets is also a common theme as animals sense a quake and take off!! There are also many less fortunate people who have spent the last two days cleaning up debris or moving what is left of their possessions out of their damaged homes with the help of friends and family.

Many thanks for you comments and concerns. We have been very fortunate that so far we have had no loss of life, but there have been some remarkable lucky escapes. The inner city is still cordoned off and as many as 90 older buildings are so badly damaged they may need to be demolished. Many of our landmark heritage buildings have had earthquake strengthening so have not been too badly damaged.

Go to this link for donations to the New Zealand Earthquake Relief fund being rund by the BNI Foundation:

https://grants.ccf-la.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=292

(Please note that the BNI Foundation is part of the California Community Foundation).

I was deeply saddened to hear about the news. I just recently was on Holidays in Canterbury with my young family and quickly passed through Christchurch so this was quite a shock for us here. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Hopefully everyone is ok and there is not too much damage to your beautiful city and heritage buildings.

Frederick Marcoux
National Director, BNI Australia, Perth WA

Many thanks for your very kind thoughts and prayers. Today (Monday) we have had several strong after shocks measuring over 4 on the Richter scale, that has been very un-nerving for everyone. But the underlying theme is make things safe enough to get everything back to normal as soon as is practical.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and I’m sure many of us in BNI will or have already made a donation to the Misner Foundation in your name.

Susan Rooks
AD, BNI RI/SE Mass. USA