Carmen Houlahan and I have just witnessed the most amazing turnout of Dunedin people, in the face of the apalling Christchurch Mosque tragedy. After a meeting at the DCC in town where we were provided with "Official DCC Volunteer" badges, we made our way towards the stadium area.
We met up with Rotary Dunedin South members, in a car park area that they usually operate, who had a supply of fluro vests, if we did not already have one, which we did. We were provided with money collection buckets and I took two of them. It was a short walk to the stadium and I ended up at Gate C on Anzac Ave, which is a continuation of Union St East.
After sorting out where to position ourselves, there appeared in the distance coming out of Union St East, the most amazing column of people, about 6 or 8 wide, that walked silently forward to our gate and poured money into our buckets. The column was a never ending stream of old and young, and went on and on and on and on. It was a sight that I shall never forget. The two buckets did not seem heavy, because the flow of notes was heart warming.
It eventually tapered off, it had to, because the stadium was filling up completely, except for the south stand which I was told was closed for maintanence. We handed in our buckets, happy that we had helped and gratified that we had seen the generosity of greater Dunedin in the face of an appalling unforgivable tragedy.
Graeme Leith
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Rotary Club of Dunedin members Graeme Leith and Carmen Houlahan are pictured with Councillor Andrew Whiley and his family.
