New World and the Student Volunteer Army (SVA) have teamed up to deliver groceries to older and vulnerable customers who are unable to leave home while the country is in Alert Level 4 of the National Pandemic Plan.
Brendon Jones, owner-operator New World Howick says the response, has been very encouraging.
“While the offer has just started on Monday (April 13), there has been a lot of initial interest. Feedback from customers has been that it’s a fantastic service being offered by the SVA.”
The contact-less grocery ordering and delivery service enables customers who are over 65, medically vulnerable and families of healthcare workers – who are potentially more vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus – to select and pay for their groceries via a custom-built website. Or they can phone in with their order to a specially set up call centre.
A local member of the Student Volunteer Army then shops for the groceries at a New World and delivers their groceries direct to their door.
“We have more than 2000 volunteers trained up around the country,” says Sam Johnson, founder of the SVA.
“We’re up and running smoothly in several cities including Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin and we’ve now added Auckland to the list of locations we’re serving.”
Auckland based SVA volunteers are now delivering to east, central and North Shore areas, picking the grocery orders at New World Howick, New World Remuera and New World Devonport.
While volunteers are shopping, they will be adhering to the strict physical distancing protocols in place at New World.
New World has donated funds to the SVA to enable the scaling of the service across more locations; supporting the cost of managing the rollout.
Chris Quin, CEO Foodstuffs North Island says, “We’re all about supporting our communities in any way we can right now and we’re delighted to be a part of bringing this valuable service for our older and vulnerable customers to Auckland.”
The service is currently up and running in Hamilton, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch (including Kaiapoi, Rangiora and Rolleston) and Dunedin.
To avail of the service log on to www.sva.org.nz
