December 14, 2020
Charity with dignity in Christmas giveaway
Auckland City Mission and its community partners today started the annual Five Days of Christmas promotion, but the long lines are absent from Nga Whare Waatea and other south Auckland marae.
Manukau Urban Māori Authority chief executive Wyn Osborne says staff have spend the past week on the phones assessing people’s needs and arranging times for them to pick up their Christmas care packages.
He says queuing promoted a first up, best dressed approach, and also resulted in many tamariki and kaumātua spending nights in the queues because their whānau did not want to miss out.
The appointment system developed to cope with foodbank demand during the COVID-lockdown was also employed.
"It doesn't make for such great telly and a small concern is it becomes more hidden and we can't allow that to happen because we all have a duty of care and a duty of obligation to bring everyone with us in terms of the wellbeing of Aotearoa," Mr Osborne says.
Wyn Osborne says it's important that charity be done in a way that respects people's dignity
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