A father of seven from Auckland’s Ōtara from is paying it forward by teaming up with his community to deliver much-needed essential items to seniors in need.
Scott Tulua has joined the Community Builders NZ Trust to pay it forward during the Covid-19 lockdown period
Scott Tulua is working with the Community Builders NZ Trust to deliver care packages of food and essentials to those who are unable – or too afraid – to leave their homes, especially the elderly.
“Most of them are living at home alone and it’s just us trying to support our elderly who can’t leave home, especially with this Covid-19 at the moment,” Mr Tulua told Tagata Pasifika.
Community Builders NZ CEO Swanie Nelson says the group’s actions show that people can make a difference.
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“Our focus really is around encouraging empowerment and actually getting local residents to realise that they are assets and they are the change makers themselves,” she said.
“So with our current initiative that we are running at the moment during Covid-19, they are all local residents from Ōtara – and another clear example of how community can take responsibility for community.”
The Ōtara-Papatoetoe local board area has the highest number of wage subsidy requests and the most requests for the Auckland Council food parcels in the region.
“Thanks to the awesome help of MSD, Foundation North and the Ōtara-Papatoetoe local board too, we received some funding and what we are able to do is organise all the shopping for them every week,” Ms Nelson told Tagata Pasifika.
“A lot of them have different medical and health dietary needs, so a lot of them have to be specifically shopped for, and we bring that all together every day on a Thursday and basically our teams mobilise out to the two senior villages.”
Mr Tulua says he does worry about what will happen when the help for the seniors is no longer available, but says he and the team are putting plans in place for ongoing support.
“Being Ōtara, we’ve reached out to other organisations within Ōtara and they’ve been able to help us out so, we have been able to collaborate with many other organisations that are doing the same thing,” he said.
He says he doesn’t do it for money or recognition, but solely to make a difference.
“My payment is the smiles and the thanks – I’ve been a person that lives on blessings, and to be blessed by the elderly, there’s no questioning those blessings,” Mr Tulua said.
“That’s my payment for the work I do.”
Article Credit: tvnz