Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
General Manager, Delphina Soti and her team are busy preparing boxes of presents and food parcels for those in need.
The ‘triage’ team of Vavao Farani and Beau Takapu have been hard at work creating the list of struggling families that will receive gifts this Christmas.
“We are the first point of contact with these tagata (people) who are needing assistance. So we’re trying to make them feel comfortable and at ease when they’re asking for assistance. I mean it’s really hard for them to even call,” Says Farani.
“With our process, it’s the same ordeal when people ask for food parcels, there’s a process that we go through of questions, just to ensure that everything is correct and, if there are children within their families, that were able to assist them as well,” Takapu says.
Sadly, they have seen an increase in the number of families needing support compared with previous years.
“At the moment we are doing 400 food parcels a week and that’s not including our bulk parcels. So we’re probably looking at 600 to 700 (parcels) or maybe more depending.” Says Farani
With the help of other organisations, they hope there will be enough gifts to go around.
“We’re in partnership with ‘Christmas Shoebox’ and they provide 500 gifts a year. We are also receiving gifts from the community in Grey Lynn. We also have an appeal that we’ve already started, ‘Gift 4 Kids’- that’s the St Vincent de Paul Appeal,” Farani says.
Working through a long list, the team in the warehouse is happily pre-packing the gifts.
“Majority of our shoebox gifts come already wrapped and these are from very generous donors, they may be individual family members or companies,” Farani says.
Along with the Christmas treats, the packages for the families consist of basic necessities along with fruit and vegetables. Basic dry goods, cans of food, crackers, sanitation, and toiletries. Also, dairy and meat if it’s available.
“We try to give them a little pleasant surprise of gifts. We don’t have enough to offer to everybody but we do what we can with the donations we receive.” Says Takapu
Once all the goods are ready, families arrive to pick up the packages.
“We’ve got these big lists that have accumulated over the year,” Says Soti.
“There’s a lot of families that we know that are genuinely struggling. So, we’re prioritising this to go to them first, and then if we have any extra, whoever comes in closer to Christmas.”
With the St Vinnies team spreading the Christmas cheer, one message is very clear.
“The Society of St Vincent de Paul, we are here for you, also remember to be kind during the season of giving and reach out if you need help.” Says Takapu
And Soti agrees, “our Christmas message to our community is the Christmas message of hope, also a message of care, were in this together.”
