Syrian refugee Khaled Al Jouja, who was a victim of vandals on his Lower Hutt nursery, with his new plants after a working bee that 500-odd people turned out for.

Not rain nor hundreds of kilometres could stop Kiwis flocking to the aid of a vandal-victim Syrian refugee.

Khaled Al Jouja found his Lower Hutt garden business trashed by vandals when he returned from a family outing on Tuesday, with more than a thousand of his plants strewn across the floor of his greenhouse.

On Saturday, 500-odd people turned out for a working bee to help get his business back on its feet.

MATTHEW TSO/STUFF After escaping war-torn Syria, Khaled Al Jouja fell victim to vandals in New Zealand.

Organiser Julia Milne said while the estimated 500 people who turned out to help was forecast, thanks to social media, nobody foresaw how far people would travel to help.

READ MORE: Outpouring of support for Syrian refugee after vandals trash his garden business

Some came from Taupō – 369km away – while others travelled from Ōtaki and Wairarapa.

MATTHEW TSO/STUFF Khaled Al Jouja was filled with gratitude after 500-odd people came to his and his family's aid

About $1300 had been donated to get Al Jouja and his family back on their feet. Al Jouja, who was "full of gratitude'", spent most of the day outside in the rain selling the plants that could be salvaged.

"All day long, people have just been supporting him," Milne said.

Before vandals attacked, Al Jouja's plants plants were to be sold through his nursery business based at the Common Unity Project's ReMakery building in Lower Hutt.

He had been hoping to get his business off the ground this spring.

He had propagated most of the plants from cuttings himself and spent between seven and 12 months getting them to a point where they were ready for sale.

Though the vandalism destroyed nearly a year of work, Al Jouja earlier this week said he was determined to carry on and was thankful for the support he had received from the community.

Al Jouja is originally from Homs in Syria, where he ran a successful business selling more than 200,000 olive trees a year, as well as fruit, produce and other plants.

He left Syria with his family about five years ago to escape the conflict and spent several years in Lebanon as a refugee. He has been in Lower Hutt for nearly two years and said he enjoyed his new lifestyle.

Since arriving in New Zealand, Al Jouja has put his horticultural expertise to good use, working for the Common Unity Project's Urban Kai programme, where he grows vegetables that feed hundreds of people within his community.