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Fears of a calm before the storm By Sue Newman
sue.n@theguardian.co.nz
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The Salvation Army is waiting for a deluge of need it knows will come. With the Covid-19 lockdown just days old, there have been few calls from the community for food or household items, but Captain Mike Wright knows this is likely to be a little patch of calm before a very large storm. “At the moment most people will have plenty of everything because so many went out and panic bought and beneficiaries have had an increase in their benefit but we’re setting processes in place for what is to come,” Wright said.
The Salvation Army was working closely with Civil Defence on how the community’s need might change in the weeks ahead, but currently it was “eerily quiet”, he said. Rather than have a deluge of food donations ahead of the anticipated sharp increase in demand, Wright is urging people to hold off on those donations. If food is delivered or made available for collection, it would mean more staff would be needed as every item would need to be wiped down before it was put in the store, Wright said. People could make cash donations that would be held until they were needed, but even the sourcing of large
quantities of food could pose problems. Local supermarkets may not be able to cope with large orders from the food bank and sourcing from wholesalers would take time, he said. “We know we’re stepping into unknown territory, but in a couple of weeks we’ll have a much better idea. People are doing so well in caring about one another but the key will be when everyone has been stuck in their home for three weeks. It’s a scary thought what it will look like then.” When it started fielding calls for help, Wright said the Salvation Army would certainly be letting the community know.
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