The curtain cupboard is not bare, but there is an unusually high number of empty boxes.
As South Canterbury Curtain Bank co-ordinator Jo Goodhew gears up for the colder months, she is hoping to replenish supplies in order to meet the needs of the community.
Six-high stacks of banana boxes contain a colourful collection of curtains of all shapes and sizes — every box colour-coded so Mrs Goodhew can quickly find what is needed.
But many of those boxes now have just one set of curtains, instead of two or three, and, in the middle of the storage space, under the table where she lays out donated curtains to measure, is a growing pile of empty boxes, following an unseasonal surge in demand over November and December.
Since the beginning of November, Mrs Goodhew provided curtains for 37 to 40 windows — about 15 clients all up — and that has made quite a dent in supplies.
‘‘I was doing curtains the week before Christmas.’’
She attributes the increase in demand to switched-on caseworkers at various agencies who are working with people in need.
‘‘When they’re helping people in the home, they’re thinking, ‘you’d be warmer if you had some curtains here’.’’
Sometimes in such cases the existing curtains are in poor condition or inadequate, and in others houses will have no curtains at all.
The challenge is always being able to find the rightsized curtain for the window, and that’s where pinch-pleat curtains can be challenging — they have to be exactly right to be useful, whereas other curtain styles have more flexibility.
Net curtains are also in demand, and while not necessarily helping with insulation, provided muchneeded privacy in many homes.
Mrs Goodhew set up the curtain bank in 2017 when she was Rangitata MP, and has remained with it ever since, giving her time voluntarily to keep it going.
