The Devonport Flagstaff Page 28
Catching up with
March 10, 2017
Hitting the streets with the Helping Hands of Calliope Rd Flagstaff reporter Maire Vieth joins a Devonport group taking food and compassion to the homeless in inner-city Auckland. At 8.30pm on Tuesday night, Victoria Brown and Joshlin Kumar drive their cars, crammed with platters of hot food and bowls of delicious pudding, up Lake Rd and across the bridge to the city. They are the pillars of Helping Hands Devonport, a group of local women who have been taking home-cooked dinners to homeless people in the central city every Tuesday night since last July. What started out with an individual meal package for a man sleeping rough outside Sky City, has since turned into a complete buffet dinner served on a round bench outside Auckland City Library at around 9pm. Brown runs Komatua Care Centre on Calliope Rd, a rest home for dementia patients. Kumar works for her, as does Brown’s niece Nina Wichman. Both are on tonight’s food run, along with Bayswater resident Beverley Hindmarsh, who has been helping the women for the last month, and Barbara Wichman, Nina’s sister who is visiting from the Gold Coast. Bess Wichman, Brown’s sister, and Maria Swede as... The cars loaded with food, Bess Wichman holds a Swedish Woodward, who works at Komatua Care Centre, stay behind, but all of them have flag in recognition of a donation from a Swedish visitor to Devonport been helping out since Sunday morning: planning a menu, prepping and pre-cooking on Monday, and all-burners-on cooking since 5 pm on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s a big production,” says Brown, and she isn’t exaggerating. This week there are three pots of chicken curry, five bowls of chili con carne on rice, corn fritters, smoked chicken salad, chicken chop suey and bacon pasta. And that’s only the main course. There is plenty of pudding too. The menu changes from week to week, sometimes on request by one of the homeless. “I didn’t put any onions in the curry this week because a man told me he is allergic to them,” says Kumar. As soon as the cars turns off Queen St and head to the library, a man with a sleeping bag across his shoulders waves to them. “Kai’s up,” a woman shouts to a crowd of around 100, who are waiting nearby. Everyone is well mannered. A man called Magic puts down the tablecloth, straightening it out. Others carefully carry the serving plates from the car. Before they start, a woman says a karakia. When it’s time to dig in, Huck, a towering, homeless Maori man, keeps an eye on things, reminding people to leave some for others, to stay in line or to stop swearing. Many of the people here sleep nearby, Personal delivery... Joshlin Kumar gives a meal to Mike, who gratefully under flax bushes, in doorways and alleyways. Others have temporary lodgings; receives the food most Tuesdays