The New World Southmall team are giving away $50,000 worth of grocery essentials to deserving members of the community throughout the month of October. The giveaway asks New World Southmall customers to nominate a deserving member of the Manurewa community to receive one of 200 grocery packs; each filled to the brim with $250 of fresh fruits, vege and plenty of pantry essentials.
During October, New World Southmall customers can nominate a deserving member of their local community to go into the weekly draw to receive one of the packs. The packs were all thoughtfully created by the New World Southmall team, ensuring each pack recipient has the right ingredients to whip up delicious and healthy meals to feed the family and to stock the kitchen cupboard.
New World Southmall owner operator, Lin Guo, says his team came up with the idea of a community giveaway after seeing first-hand how members of their community were struggling due to Covid-related challenges and uncertainty.
“We’re a tight knit community, and our team has seen how tough this year has been for many,” says Guo. “Job losses and hardship continue, and with the struggle to put meals on the table a reality for many, we wanted to do something special to support our local community and we thought, “who better to nominate deserving members of the Manurewa community than our customers?”
A major inspiration for the community giveaway came from the generosity of New World Southmall customers during the recent New World Family2family Foodbank Appeal in July. The New World Southmall customers who were able to generously donate to the Appeal, donated a whopping 150 bags of food bank-friendly items to the Auckland City Mission.
“Our team were absolutely blown away by our customers’ generosity, despite so many being in a difficult position themselves,” says Guo. “Our customers still spared what they could, and this inspired us to pay it forward with our very own community grocery giveaway.
“We understand a grocery pack won’t solve all of the challenges so many New Zealanders are facing right now, but we hope it brings some joy and relief to our neighbours and their whānau. We have already contacted 35 recipients so far, and our team has received some very humbling and gracious feedback.”
One of the recipients, Kelly, wrote to the store and said, “I was absolutely blown away when I heard my name had been drawn, the phone call from the team at New World Southmall truly made my week and it means a lot knowing we have people like Lin and others in the community looking out for each other during these difficult times.”
Lin and his team’s community support goes beyond the community grocery giveaway as the store actively contributes to the Manurewa Netball Event Centre, local clubs, libraries and more.
Supporting New Zealand’s communities is in New World’s DNA. Collectively, the two Foodstuffs co-operatives, which includes New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square, via its store owners supported schools, community organisations, food banks and food rescue organisations to a value of $7.4 million last year alone.
Chris Quin, CEO of Foodstuffs North Island says the Covid-19 pandemic sharpened Foodstuffs’ focus on what’s important to New Zealanders and where support is needed right now, which includes ensuring every New Zealander has access to healthy and affordable food.
“New Zealand’s Covid-19 recovery is something our communities are going to be dealing with for months and potentially years to come,” says Quin. “Stores like New World Southmall go above and beyond to be a positive force for New Zealand and deliver on our social promises to feed and support our communities,” says Quin.
New World Southmall’s community grocery giveaway runs from 1-31 of October. Each week, 50 names will be drawn at random from the store’s nomination box. Recipients will receive a surprise call from a store team member letting them know they are a recipient of a $250 grocery pack and that more importantly, someone in the local community is thinking and looking out for them.
