2023 has started out hard for Wesley residents as the Friday night rain flooded 100s of households in Puketāpapa/Mt Roskill leaving many families in need of somewhere to stay and many more needing essential items and food and assistance in clearing properties and making their homes habitable.
In a normal week 150 food parcels are sent out by ARK. In the past three days since the Friday night floods about 450 food parcels have gone out. 50 people have been helped with accommodation at ARK. ARK has become a distribution Centre working together with other hubs in Mt Roskill.
ARK has limited space at the ARK HQ 24 Potter Avenue (Wesley) for storage in the short term for bulky bedding, clothing and furniture donations. Appliances such as fridges, freezers, microwaves will be needed when there is space for their storage. Food donations, cleaning, toiletries are still required, and can be delivered to ARK. Volunteers are needed to help sorting and delivering food parcels. Further space for storage has been secured at RYZ at the Wesley Community Centre. If you need help, or are offering to help out, please click here.
Acts of Roskill Kindness was birthed due to the struggles of our families during the lockdown. It was created by our collective group in the community. The purpose was to help and support our families who didn’t have access to food, learning packs, resources they needed during the lockdown.
We are so grateful to our Wesley Primary Principal Mr Lou Reddy and the school board for allowing us to use their facility in times of need.
The ARK food hub based in the Wēteri Kura hall, has helped just over a thousand families already during the lockdown and we are so grateful for our community leaders, support workers and churches involved.
Pastor Peter, Pastors Lionel and Aotoa, Pastors Jack and Blessing have been the backbone of the foodbank with the support of Graeme, DP Shelley, Pastors Eric and Anna.
With the experiences of our local community leaders such as Zena Wrigley, LB Fiona Lai, DP Arona Sa, Romero Tagi and Council staff Leva Fa’afua and Infay Wong-See and Salvation Army rep James Adams, this has opened doors for our collective team to respond to any crisis in the community for example our vaccination events and talanoa sessions.
2021 has been a really tough year for most families, and the timing of the ARK Collective operating has been a blessing.
