"They're always looking for new ways to make things work better. So I thought, why not do it up here?"
Qureshi quickly took action on her idea and reached out to Terrena Griffiths, CPPNZ's founder and national coordinator, with an invitation to bring the workshops to Kaitaia.
As soon as Griffiths received the call, she knew she had no choice but to head north.
"She is a force to be reckoned with isn't she?!" Griffiths said of Qureshi.
"She has seen what we're doing and how her community really could do with the help. She's been amazing.
"This is our first time in Kaitaia and we've been invited because locals see the need."
Qureshi, who has lived in the Far North since 2014, said she'd always been community-minded and had spent much of her time volunteering since surviving a horrific motorcycle accident that had killed her partner in 1998.
The accident left her with a severe traumatic brain injury and unable to work.
After connecting with Griffiths, Qureshi hit the phones to get local schools involved.
And according to Qureshi, they were all "quite keen".
When asked about whether she often got involved in projects like this, Qureshi brushed off the idea there was anything extraordinary about it.
"It's just how I am. I've always been like this, about helping the community," she said. "I'm just a community person."
Although CPPNZ began just nine months ago, it already boasts 21 collection points and strong relationships throughout the country, confirming there are many 'community people' like Qureshi out there.
Griffiths emphasised the right partnerships as key to the project's success.
She said anyone, of any age, could collect foil, or undertake the simple task of fusing packets into sheets, but the delivery of the end product could only be done by the right people and organisations.
"Volunteers never hand out what they've made themselves," Griffiths said.
"We partner with social services to deliver them, because they know who needs them and have the specialised skills to interact with people in a respectful and appropriate way."
Griffiths said local charity Feed My Lambs would receive what's made in Kaitaia.
"I've seen the work they do and already have that relationship," she said.
Feed My Lambs is an initiative of Rongopai House Community Trust, and offers practical, empowering support for mothers and their tamariki.
Roberta Kaio, whānau coach at Rongopai House Community Trust, said the Far North had high rates of homelessness and poor housing, and that blankets would support those most in need.
"These will definitely support whānau who suffer social deprivation, which can be related to living in poor housing, or to do with mental health challenges or domestic abuse," Kaio said.
"They will support our most vulnerable families."
Kaio said without support like this, people could otherwise end up in emergency housing.
Rongopai House Community Trust would also use its networks to ensure blankets reached animal shelters that currently did not receive government funding.
Griffiths said until very recently, foil food packets had just been going into the rubbish.
She explained each packet would take 80 years to decompose in landfill, and each survival sheet used 44 chip packets or 3520 recycling years.
"We're on the cusp of revolutionary thinking that sees foil as a reusable resource," Griffiths said.
"This thinking is allowing us to reduce a negative impact on the planet and keep our whānau warm."
Griffiths said this weekend's workshops were not a one-time event, and the project was growing to meet the persistent demand for support.
"Drop-off points for clean chip packets in Kaitaia are in development," she said.
"And we're looking to form Far North fusion groups as well.
"We need to be making them flat out at summer so we've got a stockpile for next winter."
Griffiths said the project's goal to make 30,000 sheets is based on how many people are known to be living in poverty in New Zealand.
She said that's how many people were living in poverty, in garages, without adequate heating.
"We have 22,000 children who are already operating in food survival which means they don't know where their next meal will come from," Griffiths said.
"Heat pumps and carpets don't matter if you can't pay the electricity bill.
"But a survival sheet over the bed can guarantee a warm night's sleep and while the need remains, we won't be going away anytime soon."
Free workshops take place on Saturday, July 2, at 11am and 3pm, at St Saviours Anglican Church in Kaitaia.
To learn more about the project and how easy it is to fuse foil with an iron, find them on Facebook: @chippacketprojectnz.
