Compassion Soup Kitchen gearing up to help in lockdown

Soup Kitche reduced

The Compassion Soup Kitchen in Wellington is gearing up to be able to provide as many as 200 hot meals a day if needed.

According to a statement sent to NZ Catholic, all the mahi (work) is shared between two small dedicated teams of Soup Kitchen staff and volunteers.

“Currently as well as our usual meals for the whanau, we are providing Wellington City Mission with 45 hot meals for the whanau staying at Te Paapori, 14 meals for Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust and 12 for a women’s refuge,” the statement

The number of people who came to the Soup Kitchen for a meal on August 18, the first day of the level 4 lockdown, was a little lower than usual; but Soup Kitchen personnel said this was not unexpected, as any change in meal service usually takes a few days to be effective and this was a very fast change.

“We have been the recipient of thousands of school lunches after all schools closed. We have been able to pass on many of these to a marae in Lower Hutt and to Wellington City Mission who returned the favour today by giving us a further 400 school lunches,” the Soup Kitchen statement continued.

“It is this sort of support and cooperation between food providers like Kapura and Eat My Lunch, social service providers, such as Wellington City Mission and Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust and Government agencies, such as the Wellington City Council, that ensure no one will go hungry during this time and that those doing it tough will get as much support as possible in order to mitigate the impact of Lockdown on them.”

The Soup Kitchen is getting many requests to assist them with the takeaway meal service during this time.

While they understand the sincere intention of those offering to be of service to others, in the interests of keeping bubbles as small and safe as possible, they have had to decline these offers.

“The best way to help is through donating so that we can keep the meals coming. If you would like to help you can donate through https://soupkitchen.org.nz/donate/donate-money/

“Your support especially at this time, is much appreciated.”

“For businesses who find themselves with significant stock on hand that they can’t use due to lockdown we can accept donations of food products if this is prearranged and all social distancing and appropriate use of PPE gear guidelines are followed. This applies to businesses only and not to individuals who would like to drop off some yummy home baking. Under normal circumstances we are more than happy to accept such items but at Alert Level 4 we need to decline in order to minimise the risk of spreading Covid.”

The Soup Kitchen is open for business and serving a hot takeaway meal 7 days a week (including Sunday) between 12 and 1 pm from their whare at 132 Tory Street, Te Aro. The food bags include fruit dessert, bread, snacks and, as long as we have stock, a school lunch pack.

“There is no need for anyone to go hungry,” the Soup Kitchen statement concluded.

Please contact [email protected] for all general inquiries and [email protected] for anything food related; Or call 04 385 9299

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NZ Catholic Staff

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