More than $35,000 has been raised to help repair a bus that's used to tackle methamphetamine addiction in hard-to-reach communities.
Founder of the Anti-P Ministry, Brendon Warne, told The Project on Friday night he was devastated when the bus named Rerenga Wairua broke down in Tāmaki Makaurau.
"It broke my heart. I have a spiritual connection to this bus," he told co-host Kate Rodger.
The breakdown happened during Warne's latest hīkoi to Parliament.
"It's about being kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) with the people, and our bus gets us there," he said.
The full engine rebuild was expected to cost around $15,000, but after a shout-out on The Project last night, more than double that was raised.
Warne said on Saturday he's overwhelmed by the support.
"The phone starts vibrating, and that's all I felt was vibration, vibration, vibration. Every notification - it was like it just went crazy."
He said more than 700 people donated to get the bus back on the road.
"Yeah, it made me cry like a little baby. It was cool."
$15,000 was the goal, but it kept going, Warne added.
"And then it got there quite fast, and kept going and going. Bit of tears, people started ringing up. What came with that was people's ideas and questions, and people asking me if I was alright and what did I need.
"My eyes started balling."
Warne and his team of recovered P addicts have been carrying out their work across Aotearoa New Zealand since 2020.
Watch the full video above for Saturday's news, or the embedded video below for Brendon Warne's interview on The Project on Friday.
