Food banks have seen an increase in demand for food packages during this Christmas period and volunteers are working hard to service their communities, says the general manager of The Village Community Services Trust, Lady Meliena Jones.
“We have lots of supply but much more demand for packages,” she says of the organisation she founded with her husband, All Blacks legend Laáuli Sir Michael Jones KNZM, which is based in West Auckland.
“Ninety percent of the requests is because there’s been a loss of income this year for many of our families or their income is no longer sufficient to cover basic needs.”
Leading up to Christmas day, The Village on average is providing packages to 70 families per day and they have provided more than 1000 food packages since the beginning of November. During the pandemic, The Village supported families by distributing more than 2,700 food parcels when the country first entered Alert Level 4 lockdown in March.
She says her food bank will be closed during the Christmas period, but families can request packages online and their warehouse will be ready to distribute to those families when they open again on January 11th, 2021.
Her message to families during this time is to support and encourage each other.
“Be safe and look after and love each other. At the end of the day, it is not about having things, it’s who we have in our lives that really matters.”
#pmafamily
Date: Thursday 24 December 2020