The government's announced $11.5 million for community groups and NGOs in Auckland - using unspent Covid funding.
The money will go towards helping community providers meet increased demand, replenish their food banks, and some support for the disabled community.
It's also scaling up the number of Community Connectors, who can check in on people isolating.
With many regions still dealing with the clean-up from the floods two weeks ago, Chris Hipkins acknowledges it's been a challenging start to the year for them - and for community groups.
The fund was going to be announced later this week - the cyclone brought the decision forward.
