Whangamata food parcel demand spikes due to Covid 19 isolation impact

Whangamata Community Services Trust staff Jessica Morrison, Karen Halliday and Karen Tuck. Photo / HC Post

Whangamata Community Services Trust, which cares for people from Waihi to Whitianga, say Covid's impact on people's ability to work has led to a dramatic rise in food parcel demand.

"It's crazy, when I started in August last year we might get a couple of food parcel requests a week. Now we're getting 8-10 a day," said trust manager Sarah Halliday.

"That is due to Covid, mainly, with self-employed people not working and not earning, or even though employers can get a subsidy now, we're hearing that not all of them can be bothered with it."

Sarah said Covid isolation can be ongoing as the virus swept through a family, and parents are forced to stay home with isolating youngsters unable to go to school.

A variety of people needed help with food. It has included people having to wait to get a slot for click-and-collect delivery from supermarkets.

She said it was okay to ask for help and there was great support available.

"We'll do our best to meet their needs, if we don't have the information we'll find it. It's also knowing when to say no, as there are some things we don't do like acute mental health, when they need to go to the doctor."

Comfort Kai free weekly meals in Whangamata and delivery of meals by Waihi volunteers are among two heartwarming initiatives on the Coromandel and Hauraki helping feed those in need.

The Comfort Kai service gave people, particularly elderly, who lived alone and were isolated socially a chance to eat a meal alongside others. The food is cooked by volunteers.

The trust provides transport 2-3 times weekly for medical appointments with a volunteer driver, counselling sessions, a weekly visit by a trained counsellor to Whangamata Area School, emergency food parcels via a foodbank, Comfort Kai meals on Wednesday nights and an after-school and school holiday programme.

She said the trust welcomed volunteers and donations of non-expired food.

"Sometimes some of the cafes will give us leftover food or we'll receive donations of food from the community, which are always gratefully received."

Communities were rallying to help those in need, however, she was also aware of a misconception that existed on the Coromandel.

"It's frustrating that people don't see the need. It's actually really annoying sometimes when people have got no idea and say 'we don't have anything like that in this town'. They just don't know.

"There's this real 'haves and have nots'. New Zealand is not a wealthy country, we've got lots and lots of towns that are poor.

"We've got a reasonably high population in this town [Whangamata] that don't have a lot. There are families that have been here a long time and don't have much and they live week to week, and one week throws them out."

Sarah said that as is the case throughout the region, the lack of housing rentals was an urgent need in Whangamata. She recently rented out a property and said people turned up when they saw a Facebook post that she was selling house goods.

"All I did was put on the local Facebook saying I was getting rid of stuff and selling stuff, and people made the assumption that the house is coming up for rent and started coming up the driveway saying 'we want somewhere to live'.

"It was horrible not being able to help them, but in the end I rented it to a young couple having a baby."

Among the positives in town is progress on a proposed cultural centre on land at Lindsay Rd, which was saved from the possibility of a sale of the land by Thames-Coromandel District Council last year.

It's hoped a feasibility study would soon be done soon and the trust planned to have its own building behind the centre. This land could provide a facility with a large community kitchen, a safe gathering space with strict no-drinking rules, and a place for events and cultural activities to be held.