The region’s largest families have been found.
More than 40 entries were sent to Nelson Weekly for the competition which sees the three biggest families offered a free meal at Café Olive in central Nelson.
There were several entries of families with 14 children but they were from either outside our distribution area or most of the siblings were over 18, ruling them invalid for the competition.
We also heard some incredible stories, like the Tahunanui family that had four girls, tried for a boy but ended up with triplets, all girls.
But the overall winner was the Curry family, who have ten children ranging in age from 19 to 2.
The family has won dinner for them all at Café Olive, with the Dunne family winning lunch for finishing second and the Azizullah family winning breakfast for finishing third.
Steve Dunne – whose family featured in the Weekly a fortnight ago – says he’s rapt about getting lunch for his family, which includes eight children.
The Azizullah family, with mother Shafiqa, has eight children in Nelson but another four in Afghanistan. They say they were very grateful and excited about the meal.
“We are very happy, this is very nice of Cafe Olive to do this.”
Michael Curry and his wife Kimberline moved to Nelson three years ago so he could take up a job as an aircraft engineer at Air Nelson.
Michael was stoked to hear his family, who had been nominated by someone at their local church, had won the free meal.
“It’s hard for us [to go out for dinner],” he says. “To be honest we’ve never gone out since we’ve came to Nelson. First of all it’s because of finance to go out for a birthday or anything so we just have a simple celebration at home. Secondly, me and Kimberline can’t go out either because it’s really hard to get someone to look after the kids.”
The eldest son, Michael junior, is leaving Nelson in three weeks to do an aeronautical certificate in Blenheim, so the family will use the free dinner for his going away party. “We were planning on doing something like a family outing so this is absolutely perfect. We’re so blessed. Whoever nominated us, we’d like to thank that person and also thank the people behind this competition. It’s perfect timing for us.”
Café Olive’s Hakan Aslankilinc came up with the idea for the competition, noting how difficult it is for a large family to go out for dinner.
He says he’s been thrilled the number of entries to the competition and can’t wait to meet the winners.
“I was very pleased and surprised to find that there were such large families living here in Nelson. For a small town, there are a lot. It’s not something you would notice until you do something like this. I’m so excited to meet the winners and look after them in the café.”
