Ashburton Guardian, Thursday, April 30, 2020

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Thursday, Apr 30, 2020

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Former Ashburtonian Alyce Lysaght (right) has been part of the core group responsible for the Student Volunteer Army’s Covid-19 response. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Student Volunteer Army deploys here By Jaime Pitt-MacKay Jaime.p@theguardian.co.nz

Strong cereal harvest P8

The Student Volunteer Army has launched a nationwide pandemic response to support people most impacted by Covid-19, which has now been expanded to include Ashburton. The Christchurch based student organisation will be running a grocery collection service for over-65s with the groceries being collected and delivered by volunteers. Customers place an order by visiting www.sva.org.nz (or calling 0800 005 902), and order their shopping, paying via credit card. Within 48 hours (and often the next morning) a screened, trained, friendly volunteer will pick up the items and deliver it contactlessly to the customer. Former Ashburton College student Alyce Lysaght is part of the core team

of around 60 people running the organisation’s Covid-19 response, and has helped to facilitate getting the programme running in Ashburton with a number of university students at home. “The fact that more students were home did mean I was able to shoulder-tap a few people my age, however you don’t need to be a student to volunteer,” she said. “We expect the programme to run for a wee while yet, we are still seeing a need and the fact that we are continuing to run in Level 3 enables those who should be staying (at home) continue to do so.” Locally, Olivia Gibson has taken on the role of ‘chief picker’, meeting with the volunteers and getting the orders and distributing them every day, Lysaght said.

The Student Volunteer Army was founded in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes, and has a strong history of helping Kiwis come together when it is most required. The Student Volunteer Army describes the willingness of Kiwis to join the army as overwhelming, with more than 2000 eligible people registering to volunteer to date. “We have been astounded by the response to what we are doing, from those willing to join the SVA as volunteers, the individuals in the community that require our service, and also the general public sentiment recognising the support we are providing. This is humanity at its best,” SVA founder Sam Johnson told the NZ Herald. More information can be found on the Student Volunteer Army’s website www.sva.org.nz.

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