Bread tags wanted for a mobility trolley
Red Cross is collecting bread tags to help people with disabilities do their Christmas shopping. For every kilogram of bread tags collected the Red Cross branches around the region will contribute $20 of their funds towards a disability trolley for shoppers at specific supermarkets.
‘‘A disability trolley is something that gives people with mobility disability a little bit more independence for the supermarket shopping,’’ Red Cross Service Centre co-ordinator Jess Burrows said.
‘‘At the moment if you’re in a wheelchair or mobility scooter you’ve got to ask a shop assistant or get somebody along to come do supermarket shopping with you. With a disability trolley, people in a wheelchair or mobility scooter, they are able to shop by themselves by attaching the trolley.’’
The bread tag collection idea came about because of Waitara Red Cross member Rebecca Johnson, whose mother is in a wheelchair at the moment.
‘‘She’s just noticed that Waitara New World doesn’t have a disability trolley and how it would give her independence for shopping. Then we thought it would also benefit the whole Waitara community,’’ Burrows said.
Johnson said the branch was looking for projects in the community and knew of another previous bread tag collecting venture for wheelchairs.
‘‘That no longer runs, but we can do that. Instead of one wheelchair for one person this is a trolley. My mum has an illness and is in a wheelchair at he moment. We noticed there is no trolley.
‘‘She can’t shop by herself. We were asking at the counter, there’s a wheelchair but she couldn’t go around by herself. We thought, ‘aha, here’s something we can do’. There’s a lot of people in Waitara that have scooters and wheelchairs.’’
Burrows said the New Plymouth branch was collecting tags for Pak’nSave, the Inglewood branch is collecting tags at Shoprite, and the Hawera branch is collecting for Pak’nSave.
The trolleys weigh about 19Kg each and they cost $450 each. Money will be supplied by the nearest Red Cross branch through their fundraising activities.
The collection runs until December 1. ‘‘We’re hoping to get them so people can use them for Christmas shopping,’’ Burrows said.