This article focuses on the cultural resources that made Māori carers resilient when providing care to an ill family member at the end of life. Caring often took place against a backdrop of poverty, personal factors, racism and a lack of health literacy affecting access to resources. The action values of aroha and manaakitanga, compassionate giving, caring, receiving and sharing established a resilient foundation upon which whānau engaged in the illness-to-death trajectory. It served to fortify the dying and their whānau and provided a sense of belonging and a meaningful way of engaging with illness, dying, death and bereavement.