February 10, 2023
Supermarkets open shelves for flood releif
South Auckland community advocate Dave Letele says business support is proving critical in tackling the aftermath of the floods.
Mr Letele says the shelves of his foodbank were almost bare when the Buttabean Motivation team started its response with floodwaters still lapping through people’s houses around Mangere.
The first calls came from supermarket managers.
“The owner called me and said ‘go to Pak’n’Save and get whatever you need, put it on my account.’ Foodstuffs straight after that rang, gave us $20,000 to get stock. We couldn’t keep up with water down at the Mangere Rec Centre so I rang Foodstuffs, and they delivered 20 pallets of water. It’s business and community and finally the government coming, that’s the model. That’s how it needs to be for every social issue really,” Mr Letele says.
He says people are moving back into their houses, but they need replacement furniture and appliances.