Covid-19 welfare information

We need to take extra care of our elderly and provide them with support. Check in with them via phone or through social media if possible and if they need anything, remember to do it from a safe distance

The lack of modern technology may be an obstacle for our elderly living alone during the emergency self-isolation period to combat Covid-19.

👉 Read more here   

Arise church support for elderly
 
Elderly members of our community are invited to call 0800 WITHLOVE for support with everything from managing online shopping to having someone to chat to.

If experiencing domestic abuse or concerned about someone you know,  👉 Call Shine’s Helpline on 0508-744-633 now. You can call as many times as you need, for as long as you need to.

Who can get help from Shine’s Helpline?
Shine wants to make sure that anyone being physically or emotionally abused by a partner or family member in New Zealand has someone to talk to and can get information and professional advice – anyone who is worried about their own situation or who is worried about a friend, family member, child or anyone they know who might be living with domestic abuse. 

If you are experiencing violence, we are here to support and help you whether you are a man or a woman, straight, transgender, young or old, no matter your ethnicity, culture or personal situation.  

Men or women who have been violent or abusive towards their partners or family members and want to make a change can also ring our Helpline to get support, information and referrals.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired, you can ring Shine's free national Helpline (0508-744-633) using the NZ Relay service. Helpline operators are trained to take calls from the NZ Relay service.

Our Helpline has access to an interpreting service, so if you have limited English, please let the Helpline worker know what language you speak when you ring and we'll see if we can access an interpreter for you.

👉 For more information

Help support the victims of family violence

You can help the victims of family violence by booking a room for someone in need. 

Go to Www.safenight.nz

St Vincents de Paul Foodbank 

• The shop at 18 Mungavin Avenue is closed until further notice. 
• Urgent only requests for food parcels can be directed via "send message" on the facebook page facebook.com/StVincentdePaulPorirua
• Or by leaving a message (04) 237 5968 for residents between Tawa and Otaki.

Our normal delivery days will apply:

• Tuesday-Friday for Porirua East-Pukerua Bay
• Friday for Tawa through to Titahi Bay.

Donations can also be made through our National Office website www.svdp.org.nz.

Please do NOT leave donations of any kind outside the shop during this time.

Salvation Army Porirua – Foodbank 

👉For Foodbank assistance please call (04) 235 6266

St Anne's Pantry- operated through CAB 

Due to the Covid-19 virus our walk-in service has closed  

• The St Anne's Pantry Food Bank is accessed only through Citizens Advice Bureau Porirua. The pantry delivers parcels of food to people in need who are not able to access a food grant from Work & Income, or in emergencies. Each parcel is an emergency parcel. 
• Clients must be home between 2.30pm and 5.30pm to receive the parcel

Wesley Community Action – Foodbank and other Support 

• The community Pantry (the food bank) is operating. 
• Packing and delivering is done on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 
• If you require a food parcel, please phone (04) 237 7923 
• The regular fruit and vege co-op run is not operating, however they have partnered with ‘Food Together’ who do fresh fruit and veggies delivered to your door from local growers. 

👉 You can order online here: www.foodtogether.co.nz/ 
 
They also have a team who provide support for people in financial stress (our Good Cents team) who are operating on phone and social media only at this stage. They are happy to talk with anyone who is feeling stressed about money and needs some support to work out what to do with their finances.  

Nikolien Van Wijk nvanwijk@wesleyca.org.nz 
Ashleigh Crawshaw acrawshaw@wesleyca.org.nz

Or find them on Facebook and message them at Good Cents Wesley.

covid19.govt.nz website has everything you need to know about COVID-19 in one place. Learn the simple steps you can take to unite against the virus and slow its spread. 

• Cook Islands Maori
• Fijian
• Niuean
• Samoan
• Tokelauan
• Tongan
• Tuvaluan

Pacific families who need to access a Covid 19 Package of Support, please call one of your local Whānau Ora Covid 19 Support Partners.

Support available for Pacific people

For the latest information about support available for Pacific people go to COVID-19 Pacific Peoples webpage.  

You’ll also find a lot of good information on the Ministry for Pacific Peoples website and Facebook page.

Taeaomanino Trust

Taeaomanino is a Pacific social service and health provider based in Porirua. It provides Mental Health & Addiction Services as well as a number of Social/Community Health Services. 

👉 For more information, see the website www.taeaomanino.org.nz

Vaka Tautua

Vaka Tautua is a national “by Pacific for Pacific” health and social services provider. From 25 March to 24 April 2020, Vaka Tautua staff will be working remotely to deliver essential services and support to our Pacific families and communities. All Vaka Tautua offices are closed. 

👉 You can reach us by phone: TOLL FREE 0800 825 282 or email: Administration@vakatautua.co.nz

Mapu Maia

Mapu Maia offers free, professional and confidential counselling services to individuals, families and communities that are culturally appropriate and effective. All our offices and clinics are currently closed, however Mapu Maia is still providing free Pacific and non-Pacific counselling services by phone, email or video calls to anyone who requires support. 

This means if you or anyone you know is affected by gambling harm and co-existing issues, we are here to provide support and advice.

👉 You can get in touch by phone on 0800 21 21 22 or by email at help@mapumaia.nz

Chorus ready to support students in households without broadband

To support the education needs of students as New Zealand works through the Covid-19 epidemic, Chorus has offered to provide internet service providers with a free wholesale broadband service to support up to 50,000 homes currently without connectivity.

👉 Find out more

Skinny Jump - Subsidised broadband for Kiwi homes.

👉 skinny.co.nz/jump/home  

Skinny Jump (a division of Spark) is flexible prepaid broadband:  $5 for 30GB of data, no contracts or credit checks, and the modem comes free of charge. Just top up as you go. 

You can then renew the plan five times every month and can get up to a maximum of 150GB every month (it will cost you $25).
 
Skinny Jump is a not-for-profit service and we don’t use your information to promote or sell other products.  
 
If one or more of the following sounds like you, then you could be eligible: 

• Families with children
• Job seekers
• Seniors
• People with disabilities
• Refugees and migrant communities
• Those in social housing

 👉 If you qualify complete this form

(Providers or organisations can do this on behalf of whanau). 

👉 Apply here 

The Government has put together a COVID-19 Wage Subsidy for employers in all regions. 

It’s to support your business if you are impacted by COVID and face laying off staff or reducing their hours because of COVID-19. 

👉 For moreinformation about the Wage Subsidy 

The impacts of the pandemic on families and communities do not cause violence, but it can mean abusers have more opportunities to perpetrate and conceal violence. Abusive people might withhold essential items from victims, scare tactics about the virus, or prevent them from seeking help
 

👉 For more information

Work and Income is currently: 

• deferring the need to provide subsequent medical certificates for clients already getting Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support, Supported Living Payment and Child Disability Allowance. 
• deferring any Disability Allowance reviews 
• delaying Annual Reviews (including all annual reviews of income, confirming your circumstances (CYC) and annual circumstances letters (ACL), social housing reviews, and life certificates) 
• clearing any Special Benefit expiries or reviews
• deferring any new obligations failures
• clearing any 52-week reapplications for clients getting Jobseeker Support or Sole Parent Support
• extending the period that Temporary Additional Support is granted for.

We’re working through transitional arrangements for any clients whose payments are affected by any of these changes/reviews.

We’re also working on other ways to make things easier for our clients and we’ll update you as soon as we can. 

If you have been affected by COVID-19, they may be able to provide financial support. You may be self-isolating at home, or your work may be affected: 

👉 For more information