The Rotary Club of Howick Community Trust and club members have joined forces with the Thomas Brydon Trust to help local organizations provide food parcels to needy families in the Howick area.
Throughout the nation the demand for food parcels and assistance has grown substantially under the lockdown provisions of the Covid 19 pandemic and this has also flown through to our own community. Many people are under considerable financial stress and have to resort to food parcels to feed themselves and their families. This will continue even under level 2 with reduced working hours and redundancies.
Faced with this situation the club set up a special subcommittee to explore those organizations who had the infrastructure to deliver these services in an effective way. The Salvation Army, All Saints Anglican Church and Stand Children's Services will be receiving grants to enable them to extend their current food parcel and assistance programmes in the local area. The Rotary Club of Howick Community trust will be making a grant of $5000 and will be underwriting a Challenge to club members and families to make donations which the trust will then match with a further grant. It is hoped to raise a further $6000 through the "Challenge". The sub committee approached and gained support for a further $5000 from the Thomas Brydon Trust which has had a long association with the club since being founded by former President Tom Brydon in 1981.
All three organizations are thrilled to receive the support.
Pene Frost Stand’s Regional Manager said “The donation received from the Rotary Club of Howick, has enabled the Stand Children's Services Team to continue to provide genuine support to children and families in the local area. Providing food parcels, blankets and warm pajamas for children and their families during these challenging times, is a very real way of showing compassion, care and service to those families affected by the constraints and demands created by Covid-19. The deprivation we are experiencing in some families is unimaginable to many of us. Thank you, Rotary, you are making a very real contribution to creating a difference in the lives of these families.”
Joanne Wardle, Pastor of the Salvation Army in Howick is “thrilled with this amazingly generous donation. We have not experienced anything like it before and I would like to thank Rotary for the vision and drive they have demonstrated to help the local community”.
Rev Scott Malcolm commented “The All Saints Anglican Church Parish Council would like to thank the Rotary Club of Howick for it’s very generous and thoughtful donation of $2000 to our Foodbank. We can assure Rotary and its members that the funds will be used in the local Howick Pakuranga district and will be for the benefit of the children, women and families of this area.”
Mike Abercrombie current President of Howick Rotary said “the club has provided significant support in the area over across a vast number of projects over its almost 60 years and we are very proud to once again assist those families in need in the Howick community in what is one of the most challenging periods of our history”.
Allan Riley Chairman of the Thomas Brydon Trust said " Covid-19 has highlighted the financial distress existing amongst our 'new refugees' - Kiwi's. They may be our workmates, friends or neighbours. The Thomas Brydon Trust is pleased to support them alongside Howick Rotarians and the local Salvation Army teams."
The following photo shows The Food Parcel team of Pastor Joanne Wardle, Community Ministries Manager Rosemary Davies and Volunteer Lyn Fischer at the Salvation Army Centre on Moore Street.
