\u201cShe was a beacon of hope, very driven, driven by her unwavering dedication to create positive change.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sullivan believed Kake was driven by her own experience of living on the streets at a young age. <\/p>\n
\u201cCarrie\u2019s own life journey, marked by resilience and perseverance, was a powerful catalyst for her mission … which began taking shape from the age of when she was around 11 … probably even before that,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cShe endured a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Kake had children and a home, she \u201cnever stopped\u201d helping others.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said she made meals for people on the streets from her own cupboard. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like her house was a never-ending well of food.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kake was not a woman you could say no to. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s come out with me and she would have just come out of hospital most times,\u201d Sullivan said, \u201cI didn\u2019t even fight it, you know, \u2018Okay, come on then, put a warm jacket on, put some gumboots on\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan said even in her final moments, Kake\u2019s wairua [spirit] remained unbroken. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was still motivating and pushing me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it was like \u2018Oh Carrie, just have a rest\u2019, but there was no rest for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carrie Kake giving a helping hand at a 90th birthday. Photo \/ Petrina Sullivan<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a whakatauk\u012b [proverb] and it goes something like, He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata … it\u2019s like if you were to ask me what is the greatest thing in the world … I will reply it is the people, it is the people, it is the people. And she demonstrated that really well … she put volume to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Whang\u0101rei District councillor and social worker Carol Peters described Kake as a good person. <\/p>\n
She had been unwell almost the whole time Peters knew her, but Kake still fought for what she believed in. <\/p>\n
That fight helped kickstart Open Arms in Whang\u0101rei<\/a>, a long-held dream of Kake\u2019s. <\/p>\n At the venue\u2019s opening in 2018,<\/a> Kake said it would be a place where people could come and \u201cfeel love\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cBig things will happen here. Healing will be done in this place,\u201d she\u2019d said.<\/p>\n Peters spent family Christmases with Kake, and the pair worked to get people food, showers and into work. <\/p>\n \u201cShe just kept going … didn\u2019t take no for an answer … she believed in people,\u201d Peters said. <\/p>\n In a speech prepared for Kake\u2019s tangi, Peters thanked her family for sharing her with the people of Whang\u0101rei for \u201cso many years\u201d. <\/p>\n She felt Kake\u2019s legacy would be carried on<\/a> by those she inspired, including Sullivan and former rough sleeper Jason Poutai. <\/p>\n Poutai worked with Kake after he went public about his road to homelessness<\/a> in 2023. <\/p>\n Together, they started a petition to rally support for a permanent night shelter in Whang\u0101rei. <\/p>\n At the time, Kake had said homelessness was growing, with youngsters living under bridges. <\/p>\n \u201cI need to make this one work, for the people,\u201d she\u2019d said.<\/p>\n In April 2024, Whang\u0101rei District Council said a proposal to open a night shelter at the former Old Boys\u2019 Rugby and Sports Club<\/a> on Port Rd was off the cards<\/a>. <\/p>\n Poutai continued rallying for a night shelter. He said Kake had a \u201cbig impact\u201d on his life, saying she was \u201cbrilliant\u201d.<\/p>\n He was struck by how generous Kake was with her time. <\/p>\n \u201cShe helped me in so many ways,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Before he was on the streets, Open Arms had made an impact on the homeless community. <\/p>\n About 40 people were without a home when it first opened, and Poutai said all now had a roof over their heads.<\/p>\n Toward the end of last year, he found a home too. <\/p>\n That meant he could continue to work on fulfilling Kake\u2019s final wish to open a night shelter in Whang\u0101rei. <\/p>\n Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cShe was a beacon of hope, very driven, driven by her unwavering dedication to create positive change.\u201d Sullivan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,682,74893,6028,66417,1259,9060,49159,39881,299,90057,1342,54101,681,9437,201198,16099,6187,130,34535,111,43,139,2551,69,90,15120,9434,131,1869,1354],"class_list":{"0":"post-388557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-being","10":"tag-carrie","11":"tag-champion","12":"tag-championed","13":"tag-community","14":"tag-decades","15":"tag-determined","16":"tag-districts","17":"tag-dream","18":"tag-fiercely","19":"tag-five","20":"tag-generous","21":"tag-homeless","22":"tag-homelessness","23":"tag-kake","24":"tag-kind","25":"tag-lives","26":"tag-more","27":"tag-mourns","28":"tag-new-zealand","29":"tag-news","30":"tag-newzealand","31":"tag-night","32":"tag-nz","33":"tag-on","34":"tag-remembered","35":"tag-shelter","36":"tag-than","37":"tag-whangrei","38":"tag-woman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Carrie Kake and Carol Peters pictured together in 2018 at the opening of Open Arms, a day shelter which had been a long-held dream of Kake’s. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Jason Poutai and Carrie Kake in 2023, collecting signatures for a petition to get a permanent night shelter in Whangarei. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n