Auckland City Mission is gearing up to hand out tens of thousands of presents and food parcels to whānau in need in the lead-up to Christmas.
Food parcels ready to go at the Papakura Marae. Photo: RNZ / Sarah Robson
Instead of the usual lines outside the mission's CBD headquarters, boxes of Christmas goodies are being handed out from distribution centres across the city.
City Missioner Chris Farrelly said the change was about giving people their dignity.
"Think back five years ago, queues on Hobson Street where we provided the same kind of service every year, but people would come out at midnight, wait in the glare of the public gaze with children and old people, to get a present and run," he said.
Presents ready to go. Photo: RNZ / Sarah Robson
"Yes, we gave something, but it was at great expense, the expense of dignity."
This year, people are being asked to call an 0800 number, where their needs will be assessed. They will then be asked to go to one of the distribution centres and at specific time to pick up their parcels.
One of those centres is at Papakura Marae, where chief executive Tony Kake said the demand for food and presents was huge.
Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake. Photo: RNZ / Sarah Robson
His team of staff and volunteers was working hard to make sure whānau got what they needed, he said.
"The process we've got this year is all about mana, mana-enhancement, dignity for our whānau."
New system much better
At the marae, cars line up on the road outside.
People who have registered for parcels are met by someone who puts a number on their windscreen, which matches the number on their parcels.
They drive into the carpark, where volunteers wheel the parcels out in supermarket trollies and pop them in their backseat or car boot.
One woman who used the service - Edge - went with her son and three nieces.
"We won't have to worry about getting more food over Christmas and [the kids] will be fed," she said.
In previous years, Edge had lined up outside the City Mission.
"There'd be a group of us, three of us or four of us would go out, sacrifice one night to sleep out there, just to stand in a line to get the presents, the food."
The new system was much better, Edge said.
"We had to come at a certain time, and it's just around the corner - we don't have to go all the way to [the city], stay there for the night and then once we get the stuff, walk all the way to where we parked."
Food parcels being prepared. Photo: RNZ / Sarah Robson
Auckland City Mission expects to hand out about 40,000 presents and 10,000 family food parcels in the lead-up to Christmas.
Farrelly said it came at the end of a busy year because of Covid-19.
During the lockdowns, demand for food parcels trebled.
The mission was still running about double the demand it would usually see at this time of year - and many of those needing help had never asked for a food parcel before, Farrelly said.
The mission did not have the capacity or capability to meet all of the need that was out there, he said
However, it was working with other organisations to make sure people would not go hungry over the Christmas period.