When the Prime Minister announced the imminent alert level 4 lockdown on 17 August, Kathleen Tuai-Ta’ufo’ou, Director of Siaola Vahefonua Tonga Methodist Mission, and her team hit the ground running to create a community food bank hub at the Ellerslie Tongan Methodist Church, Moia Mei-He Eiki.

The team is highly efficient at providing bulk food at short notice for local community families in need. The all-out effort in August is the fourth time they have swung into action.

With financial support from the Ministry of Social Development, Kathleen and her team of 45 worked incredibly long hours during Auckland’s lockdown purchasing, packaging and distributing food parcels: an average of 400 parcels per week. Sialoa works in an interfaith collaboration with many other churches in the area. Along with preparing parcels and making contactless deliveries in PPE gear, members of the team work behind the scenes liaising with families and other church leaders to identify areas of need, collating data and providing statistics that assist in directing resources in response to the community needs.

The statistics are impressive. “In four weeks we have worked with 2000 families, 10,000 people. 87 percent of the families are Tongan with Samoan and Maori making up the rest. Typically the families are big: 80 percent have between 9 – 13 people living in a household, including parents, their children, their partners and the grandchildren,” Kathleen says.

As well as assisting with food parcels, Siaola have been encouraging families to get vaccinated. Based on the success of supporting the MMT Malu’i Ma’a Tonga vaccination clinic together with groups such as The Fono, the Tongan Health Society- Langimalie and the Takanga ‘e Kau Taki Lotu – 3,827 Tongans queued up for their jab over three days. SIAOLA is also supporting the Vahefonua Tonga Youth “Gotcha Shots Toks?” Pop Up vaccination hub and the Northshore Tongan Church Leaders Pop Up Vaccination hub.