The Dinner Club meets every week in Napier, bringing together people affected by Cyclone Gabrielle for food and company, funded with support from donations and the mayoral relief fund. Photo: Jane Morgan / Supplied
The tables are set, the punch bowl is full and there is a delicious smell coming from the kitchen.
The Dinner Club in Napier, run by Jane Morgan, has been providing meals for displaced families in Hawke's Bay since Cyclone Gabrielle in February.
Morgan said for those forced into temporary accommodation like cabins or caravans by the storm, cooking dinner was a much harder task than it was in their own home.
The weekly Friday dinners were a chance for people to get together and enjoy someone else's cooking. But it was the shared experiences and the camaraderie that saw up to about 30 guests gather around the tables at the Taradale Anglican Church each week, Morgan said.
"The overwhelming message from people that are still in this situation is they feel forgotten. Life goes on, I get it, it has to - but for them, life's not going on."
Meals prepped by volunteers for The Dinner Club in Napier. Photo: Jane Morgan / Supplied
The club was supported by funding from the mayoral relief fund, and food and money have been donated by community groups, friends and even strangers making contact on social media.
Morgan drove all over the region to find the best food prices, trying to make the donations go as far as possible, and spent of all Thursday and Friday preparing the food, all to be put together with the help of some loyal volunteers on Friday night.
A koha paid for the use of the church, which had a kitchen and a big octagonal space for the dining room.
Dinner guests Ngaire and Ross Duncan had been living in a rental in Napier while their Waiohiki home was repaired - and Ngaire said as well as a good meal, the dinner club provided them with support and connection.
"To have something like this to look forward to with folks we know - and have got to know, and have all been flooded out, and we're all on the same page - so to share stories, it's quite cathartic really."
Fellow guests Cynthea Greene and her husband Ray were rescued from the roof of their Koropiko home by helicopter, and shared a meal at the dinner club with the pilot as the guest of honour only a few weeks ago.
She said the weekly events were "very therapeutic".
Her neighbour Glenda Swanick said it was a chance to keep tabs on others' progress "just to see where they are, each week, just to see how they're getting on".
Cynthea Greene's great-niece Stacey said she found it easier these days to relate to people who had also been through the storm. She, her, husband, and her three young kids were regular attendees.
"As much as people really do try to understand, you do struggle to relate to them when they haven't been through it, and it makes you feel a bit more alone."
The Friday of 7 October was a special occasion, with one couple the proud owners of a new home after months of uncertainty.
Sparkling wine was popped and a round of 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' sung in celebration.
Morgan said the number of guests had stayed pretty consistent. People tended to drop out once they got back on their feet and new guests came in each week.
"There are some people that have sort of said, 'We're fine now, so thank you very much, it's given us that respite that we needed, and we're off.'"
She said those who had found their footing were welcome to stay if they wished, as part of a community of survivors that found a silver lining amid disaster.
This article was amended on Wednesday, 1 November 2023, to correct the attribution for a quote.
