The communal set-up at the Wellington Night Shelter meant that it wasn’t suitable for self-isolation during the Covid-19 lockdown.
But on Friday, things started to look up for the charitable organisation. Mitre 10 MEGA stores in Petone, Upper Hutt and Porirua sourced and delivered 22 bar fridges and two freezers immediately to help safely accommodate residents.
After contacting several stores the previous day, Wellington City Council’s Community Safety Advisor Jonelle du Pont, eventually got through to Mitre 10’s support line in Auckland.
An hour later, Jonelle received a phone call from Mitre 10 Wellington region CEO, Cliff Lockyer who offered to source not only 22 fridges but two freezers as well.
“This phone call was a great lifeline to us. Without this assistance we would have been in a very desperate situation,” says Jonelle.
“It’s meant that residents will have access to their own fridge in their rooms and are able to self-isolate according to the alert level 4 Ministry of Health guidelines.”
The Mitre 10 MEGA team confirmed stock numbers the next day, and helped to organise an urgent delivery.
For Jonelle and her team, this assistance made their day and will potentially save lives.
“Within 24 hours of the first phone call, we had fridges and freezers delivered by 3pm the next day. It was a good day for the most vulnerable people in our community.”