Known as the Christchurch Wool Lady, Maureen Haynes is now helping distribute donated food to families in Westport.

Christchurch's "wool lady" may have left town, but her desire to help people in need has gone coast to coast.

Maureen Haynes, 73, retired from her charity work in 2001 when she moved to Westport on the West Coast. But it appears selfless acts were too ingrained.

Four years ago, she helped set up a food bank in her new hometown and began distributing donated food to families.

Joanne Carroll/Stuff Maureen Haynes, known as the Christchurch Wool Lady, is helping those in need in Westport.

Haynes acquired the "wool lady" tag in the early 1980s when she appealed for wool and knitters to make rugs and clothing for Ethiopian refugees. About $250,000 of goods arrived in 10 days, including medicines, clothes and wool.

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The original calling to food bank charity work came to her one night while asleep, soon after her knitting project.

Staff photographer Haynes appeared in The Press newspaper in 1985 while knitting for Ethiopian refugees.

"I woke my husband up and said, 'I've had a vision'. He said, 'if you have had a vision, you start today'.

"So I rang up Foodstuffs and got 2000 cans of spaghetti. That's how I started, with 2000 cans of spaghetti."

Soon, Haynes and husband Peter were working up to 10 hours a day collecting and distributing food with their charitable trust.

Staff photographer The effort earned her the nickname, the "wool lady".

"I used to pick up a tonne of frozen vegetables every Friday, bring them home and distribute them. We decided to hand it over to someone else after 16 years and they carried on.

"In that time we raised between $9m and $10m, and I got two medals from the Queen."

When the couple retired to Westport, Haynes spent 14 years caring for her husband. Peter died about four years ago, sparking a return to volunteering.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff Hayne says after living all over the world, Westport is a great place to live.

Friends running a food bank in Leeston in rural Canterbury said they were sending food to the Coast.

Westport people would travel over the Alps regularly to bring back tonnes of vegetables, Haynes said.

She started giving directly to families through Facebook, but now works only through agencies, including Salvation Army, Elim Church, Women's Refuge, Poutini Waiora and Victim Support.

CHRIS SKELTON/STUFF Haynes is regularly spotted zipping around town on her mobility scooter.

She helped set up The Sharing Shed, which runs as a food bank in town at the Art Hotel every Thursday.

"People collect what they want, people never overtake. People donate produce from their gardens, pots of jam, whatever.

"I know what it's like to struggle to have to ask for something for your kids. It takes a lot of guts to ask for spuds, or pumpkin, or food parcels.

Joanne Carroll/Stuff North Beach is one of the Buller District's amazing coastal delights.

"I've had people here in tears. I say to them the food will only go to the dump if you don't eat it."

Haynes left Eastborne in England 60 years ago, lived in Australia before moving to New Zealand in 1967. She has four children, nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

She is regularly spotted zipping around town on her mobility scooter.

Hayne said after living all over the world, Westport was a great place to live.

"What's not to love about Westport? There's no McDonald's, no KFC, no traffic lights – it's absolutely marvellous and the people here are a delight."