We've never been busier...

OUR FOODBANK ROLLS ON

Every now and then Hereford Street outside our Foodbank can be one of the busiest streets in Christchurch.

Cars can be seen queueing up to collect food parcels. As with the last lockdown, our Foodbank carries on because our City needs us.

On Monday we fed 350 people when usually we would feed about 190 and on Tuesday this rocketed up to 444 people.

It is worrying how much demand is growing even though this is just early days.

Significantly 20 per cent of callers are new to us instead of the usual 7-8 per cent we saw at the City Mission pre-Covid 19.

It shows how the lockdown can tip over many families who are otherwise just getting by. We are hearing from many who have lost the casual jobs or income that kept them going and others are large families who decided to lock down together, then discovered they couldn’t afford to feed everyone.

Inside our building we have replaced our usual volunteers with our staff, pulled from everywhere to keep the food parcels flowing. There you’ll see a social worker alongside a receptionist and Op Shop staff.

We are all pitching in to keep the City Mission going and to look after our city’s people.

WE ARE JUST A CALL AWAY

We do all the one-to-one addiction counselling in Christchurch, which is something that’s not widely known.

But under lockdown our counsellors have had to switch to phone and video calls to work with clients both existing and new.

At the moment our wider alcohol and other drugs addiction team are calling and contacting as many as 100 people a day to help with addiction services.

Addiction clients are facing challenges that include the frightening risk of suicide and our counsellors can have very complicated and stressful calls. We are busy trying to work out what stage our client is at and what help they need next.

People are grateful we are doing this and appreciate that even under lockdown we are reaching out to help them.

But we also know the longer the lockdown continues the more it will impact on lives with stress from financial problems and social isolation.

This will lead to worsening mental health problems. Then relapses will escalate among clients trying to manage an addiction.

If the lockdown continues demand on our services will become overwhelming but we will continue as we always do.

HELPING THE HOMELESS

We have 11 men and 6 women locked down with us in our emergency accommodation.

That means we are looking after them day and night and we are using staff from all our services to help care for them.

These are people with complex needs and many find being locked down a stressful experience but we have the expertise to keep things as calm and comfortable as possible.

PATROLLING THE STREETS

Some homeless people need a lot of encouragement and building of trust before they can leave the streets. Others will always choose to stay on the streets because of the challenges they have faced in their lives and it can take a long time to work through these with them.

Our social workers’ vital Outreach Service continues through the lockdown and we are making regular patrols to support those who choose to stay out and connect with any newcomers who may appear.

Depending on what they need we may drop off some blankets and food and of course have a kind comforting word to show them people still care.

THANK YOU

A crisis can bring out the best in people. Thanks to you we are ensuring that the most vulnerable in our city are cared for and comforted through these most stressful times