Homeless at City Mission help farmers
Five men living in our emergency accommodation jumped at the chance yesterday to hop in a van and go to Ashburton to help a flood-hit farmer clear debris from his fences.
A few hours later they were lining the fences of Chris Allen’s farm, pulling material from the wires in the only hands-on way they will get cleared.
Around them was the silt-covered devastation of a farm unlucky enough to be surrounded by rivers and which had starred in TV coverage of the flooding.
Behind all this lies a lovely story of people who have been helped stepping up to give back to the helpers.
Chris is one of the farmers who supports the Meat the Need programme. Farmers donate beasts that provides mince for foodbanks like ours.
We get a generous 375kg of prime beef mince a month from these farmers and it helps us with meals for our emergency accommodation residents and our Foodbank clients.
But after the floods it was the farmers who needed help – Chris lost 20 fences - and our guys were keen to play their part.
Jason is one of our men who kitted up in gumboots donated from Farmlands and gloves from Drummond and Etheridge to do the work.
“It’s a gesture to show we care. That’s the thing about Christchurch everyone jumps in and helps,” Jason said. “It’s a simple gesture. The farmers supply the meat and I am giving back.”
“It’s a gesture to show we care. That’s the thing about Christchurch everyone jumps in and helps”
Jason has been staying with us for a week and before he arrived at the Mission he wasn’t eating for four or five days at a time, but under our care he is eating well again.
Meat the Need founder Wayne Langford said the sight of guys helping out a farmer who donated meat to them shows the whole process has gone full circle.
“Getting these guys out here today and showing that they care as well, that does a lot of things to a farmer’s mind. It’s pretty powerful stuff. They are all volunteers, I couldn’t be more proud of them just jumping in and digging in for the good of it all.
“That’s what communities are all about, we start thinking about one another rather everything else.”