Winter’s bite on poverty

HOW YOU CAN HELP

‘I love coming here five days a week, because it gives me satisfaction and it gives me something to do. I hope I’m making a difference in their life, you know, that I can just give the best I can.’ J T TEREVA

shower, given a towel and some soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

When Moir and Tereva entered the system, their journeys would have started with an interview.

Major Pam Waugh regularly interviewed those looking for help. She had worked for the organisation for the past 25 years, and enjoyed watching families grow, and individuals walk away in a better place than they walked in. ‘‘I especially love working with young mothers and babies,’’ she said.

The initial interview was a chance to get to know the person, she said. Some were nervous and needed calm reassurance and Waugh would get them a cup of tea, or a biscuit for the children.

This 20-minute interview might be as far as it went. People could walk in hungry, and an hour later walk out with a specially compiled box of food.

The Salvation Army offered support by way of food, clothing, and housing; Waugh said 75 per cent of their applicants were renters, and they often advocated on people’s behalves for better housing, or just any housing at all.

They couldn’t hand out cash, but if the interview identified areas where other organisations were falling short, they could advocate for better support from places like Work and Income.

Asking for help was ‘‘a huge step for some people’’, Waugh said.

‘‘It’s about shifting the roadblocks getting in the way.’’

People were referred from other organisations but anyone could walk in off the street and ask for help. ‘‘Very rarely does someone walk out without getting what they need.’’

The form, double-sided, had questions ranging from whether the person had experienced any kind of domestic violence (for which, Waugh said, a tactful approach was needed) to how many people lived in their home.

‘‘If the household has three teenage boys, for example, I might put in a few more tins of baked beans.’’

But all this collection of data could be intimidating and people were often concerned about privacy.

Some were dependent on the Ministry of Social Development for their very wellbeing and concerned about giving information that would cut off their assistance or get them in trouble, she said.

Demographic information was collected for the organisation’s own records, and to keep the Salvation Army accountable to the Ministry of Social Development, from which they received funding – but no names were attached.

As a Christian faith-based community, it also offered spiritual support. Having a community was integral, Waugh said. ‘‘The more connections people have, the better the outcome.’’

On her way through the halls to ‘‘go check out the foodbank’’, she was met by a small child in a pink puffer jacket, who raised her arms to be picked up. Waugh brought her along.

The food was donated by individuals or companies, through programmes like the Foodbank Project, which launched in 2015 and enabled donors to choose items mostneeded by the Army’s foodbanks to be delivered by Countdown.

Allowing people to choose what food they liked was important, Waugh said, the old saying, ‘‘beggars can’t be choosers’’ totally out the window.

It was no help for people to receive things they didn’t like, couldn’t eat, or didn’t know how to cook, Waugh said, and it restored some agency and power to encourage them to select their own assortment of food.

Tyson said when she worked for The Salvation Army in Australia, they would sometimes walk outside and find food stashed behind the building, especially things like mince, because people just didn’t know how to cook it.

Most people who went through their alcohol and drug programmes often had ‘‘some element of trauma’’ in their past, Tyson said.

‘‘In some ways it’s the stuff we [society] have done to them.’’

Countdown and The Salvation Army are calling on Kiwis to donate towards what is expected to be foodbanks’ busiest ever winter.

The Salvation Army is expecting to need to help more than 50,000 New Zealanders, a significant proportion experiencing food insecurity for the first time thanks to Covid-19. Winter demand is expected to grow by at least 60 per cent from last year.

Salvation Army director of community ministries Jono Bell said they were hoping to raise $500,000 worth of groceries.

‘‘A food parcel won’t solve everything, but it’s the difference between parents and children going hungry which I can’t believe any Kiwi would want to see.’’