The last seven weeks of Alert Level 4 and 3 in New Zealand had restricted movement of New Zealanders across the country. This meant some people were out of work, some made redundant, and a big blow came to international students and temporary migrant workers who were unable to work and earn their weekly living.
This bi product of the lockdown rendered a lot of individuals and families running out of basic and essential items for their living, such as food and snacks.
Many organisations and individuals came forward to help their vulnerable individuals and families, supporting them with food boxes and essentials. One such drive, which didn’t go unnoticed was the initiative by New Zealand Nepal Society.
New Zealand Nepal Society’s team of 15 that included its volunteers worked tirelessly arranging and delivering food bags for the needy during weeks of Covid-19 lockdown.
The team sourced fresh fruits, vegetables, snacks, daily essentials, groceries from different places, buying some and rest donated by organisations such as Supreme Sikh Society on NZ.
Nepal Society started ‘Be Kind To Each Other Free Food Initiative’ and asked the needy via its Facebook page to register on a Google form if there financial and travelling issues and the team of Nepal Society will deliver the goods at their doorsteps.
“We had a lot of registrations not just through the poster but also through word of mouth and our team collected, packed and delivered them at the doorstep, thereby maintaining social distancing and helping the needy,” president of NZ Nepal Society, Dinesh Khadka told The Indian Weekender.
Mr Khadka further added that more 217 households received the food bags and since it was done multiple times during the alert level 4 and 3 lockdowns, they were able to support more than 800 people through this drive.
‘You would be surprised that how many people are there who were in dire need of help, some were too shy to approach us but we made sure to go ahead and help those individuals and families affected in the lockdown with loss of jobs and weekly income to support themselves and their families,” Mr Khadka added.