Te Puea Marae is "overwhelmed" and "humbled" by musicians donating their time and efforts to help raise money for the homeless.
Six New Zealand bands and the One Love team are throwing a benefit concert, Music is Love: Hope for the Homeless, which will be streamed online Thursday night.
The event will be New Zealand's first online telethon, and all of the proceeds will go toward Te Puea Marae, which has been hosting the homeless for the past two months.
Speaking to Newshub, chair Marae Hurimoana Dennis was clearly moved by the musicians' efforts.
"It's an acknowledgement from some of the country's well-known musos to our homeless whānau. Putting on the concert is a way of acknowledging what we're trying to do. It's overwhelming and humbling."
The donations will help the marae help others, says Mr Dennis.
"Anything to help us pay our bills. It goes toward manaakitanga to help the homeless."
Manaakitanga is often loosely translated to as a notion of hospitality. Maoridictionary.co.nz defines it as "the process of showing respect, generosity and care toward others". The concept is central to the work Te Puea has been doing.
Mr Dennis says Te Puea Marae is currently housing about 20 homeless people, and has done 57 assessments of need, encompassing 157 people. About 27 families have been placed in permanent or temporary homes.
The marae will cease housing the homeless at the end of August, when the coldest months have passed.
The Music is Love: Hope for the Homeless concert will include artists such as Sons of Zion, Che Fu and Three Houses Down.
The event will be livestreamed from The Studio on Karangahape Road in central Auckland. Tickets to the live event are $55. The telethon begins at 7:30pm.
Music is Love: The line-up
Three Houses Down
Sons of Zion
Tomorrow People
Che Fu
Pieter T (PT)
Swiss and DJ Hemz
K.One
Sesh
Mikey Mayz
DJ Spyce
Betty-Anne Monga
Annie Crummer
Ria Hall
Lee Morunga
Majic Paora
Raninikura Waitai-Henare
Rob Ruha
Newshub.
