Ngāti Kahungunu iwi are delivering more than 30,000 easter eggs this weekend to help lift the spirits of whānau in lockdown over this Easter period.
"We have 33,000 easter eggs and they're going to be spread out from Wairoa to Wairarapa throughout the Ngāti Kahungunu rohe," Hayden Hape, the chairperson for Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tāmaki Nui a Rua says.
"To put a smile on the faces of everybody who has been in lockdown over the last two weeks, to say we love you, and The Warehouse we love you," Ngāti Kahungunu chairperson Ngahiwi Tomoana says.
The eggs are surplus Warehouse stock and cannot be sold because of the lockdown.
"It went to a national executive who agreed that not only will we not pay wholesale but they will koha these taonga reka ki ngā tamariki mokopuna puta noa i te rohe nei," Tomoana says.
"We're really wanting to get the eggs out to our essential workers, to our vulnerable whānau and then to everyone else after that. Most importantly, we want to get it out to our children," Hape says.
The deliveries have turned up in record time and even had some hot cross buns included as well.
"The logistics to getting the easter eggs, getting them transported down, is a massive job but has been made so easy because everyone that contributed to this, The Warehouse Group, KPH Transport, Buckridges Transport and Tihei Mauri Ora response centre have made it so easy," he says.
Some 60 pallets will be unloaded and packaged up as a welcome surprise for many.