Matua Peter Anaru grateful for unexpected Whānau Ora packages.
Kaumātua Peter Anaru called the Te Arawa Whānau Ora hotline to thank the organisation for providing him with a hygiene pack and veteran’s pack with food staples during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“I appreciated the hygiene pack a lot because I was just about to make up a list to go down to Countdown to do my shopping,” he says. “I didn’t have to go down to Countdown because everything I wanted was in the parcel that Whānau Ora gave me.
“With the other pack, I had to store things away because they gave me too many items. I got eggs, milk, bread, butter, tins of fruit, vegetables – and that one was unexpected. I didn’t expect to receive a parcel like that from Whānau Ora.”
Matua Peter recalls during World War II when food, such as sugar and butter, was rationed and there was a limit to how much families could purchase from the grocery store.
“I was one of a family of six and we used to sit around the table while my mother dished out butter to everybody – just enough butter to go on your bread. She rationed everything.”
“With the lockdown, Whānau Ora and other organisations have provided food and other things, which we didn’t expect. But there were a lot of people who were very appreciative of what they received because they didn’t have enough money and they had families to feed,” says Matua Peter.