Kiwi flight attendant gives $20,000 prize money to widowed brother for kitchen upgrade

Kindness shone through when the winner of Coast's Renovation Rescue contest revealed she planned to give her $20,000 prize money to her brother.

Flight attendant Melissa Thompson said her brother, Jared Turner, needed some sunshine in his life following the death of his wife, Teri, two years ago.

“They had all these plans for their off-grid house in Saddle Hill in Dunedin, and then she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. He nursed Teri for a year. She died just before their daughter Samantha’s 21st,” Thompson told OneRoof.

Thompson shifted up to Auckland to live with her brother after Teri's death.

“My partner’s living overseas, so I said, ‘Can I come live with you?’. There are only 11 months between us - we’re very close.”

Thompson said her brother, an electrical engineer, had wanted to update his kitchen, finding the blue cabinets and stained yellow benchtop out of date and the layout too tight to fit his fridge (it’s currently in the garage).

The siblings have been carefully considering their renovation options - they want to make the $20,000 prize stretch as far as it can - but Thompson's generosity has been contagious.

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When she revealed her brother's story to Coast Breakfast hosts Toni Street, Sam Wallace and Jason Reeves last week, regular listeners were moved by her kindness.

Regular Coast listener Jacquie Turner, owner of Stone Warehouse, in Auckland’s Albany, reached out to the station to offer the siblings a new $5000 stone benchtop.

Also stepping in to help Thompson and Turner will be Street. The host will advise the pair throughout the renovation and has already recommended they pick neutral colours with a touch of brass for the cabinets.

“I can’t wait to help them modernize the look,” Street told OneRoof. “I love that Jared’s sister Melissa entered the Renovation Rescue on his behalf, such a selfless thing to do.”

The first thing the Renovation Rescue $20,000 prize money will be used on is updating the blue cabinets and yellow benchtops. Photo / Supplied

An essential fix is to rework cabinetry to make room for the fridge, currently in the garage. Photo / Supplied

Thompson said working out what to spend the $20,000 was a nice problem to face. “We do feel a little guilty because, you know, there are so many other people that would need it,” she said.

“In the last six months, we’ve really thought about [updating the kitchen], but we’ve got no idea of pricing. I’d love white shutters, those soft-close drawers,” she said, adding that she had watching renovation shows like The Block for ideas.

Reeves said the Coast Breakfast team was "blown away when she said she wanted to renovate her brother’s kitchen".

Wallace added: “Money is tight at the moment and I think a $20,000 renovation would hit the spot for nearly everyone right now. It’s a wonderful prize that ended up going to a very deserving winner.

“I can’t wait to see what they can achieve renovating a kitchen for $20,000.”

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