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What are Bellyful doing to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Collective Response for the Most Vulnerable During the COVID-19 Lockdown

New Zealanders have always stepped up in times of crisis. With the rapidly evolving situations around the COVID-19 pandemic, we have found ourselves to be more adaptive and responsive than ever before. While the nation was preparing to stock up on essentials and defining their safe bubbles; Bellyful New Zealand Trust and The Neonatal Trust were collectively working behind the scenes to support vulnerable families with babies currently in neonatal intensive care units across New Zealand.

With over 650 volunteers around the country, Bellyful has 23 branches across New Zealand and provides free home cooked meals to families with a new baby or serious illness in the family, and when preparing a meal is impossible.

The Neonatal Trust provides support to families of neonatal babies as they journey through the neonatal intensive care, the transition home, and onwards. This help is provided in a number of different ways, all aimed at “making a difficult start to life a little bit easier”. Every year approximately 10% of all babies are born premature (before 37 weeks gestation) in New Zealand. That's one premature baby born every 90 minutes.

The COVID-19 lockdown meant most hospitals would allow only mothers into the units, or one parent at a time. Some units may even be on complete lockdown to protect the health of the babies, and the highly specialised, difficult-to-replace staff. The Neonatal Trust supported a number of families who were anxious and distressed knowing that their interactions with their most vulnerable new-borns will be limited. Bellyful branches around the country had ample volunteer-cooked meals in their freezers, however the lockdown would mean they couldn't deliver these meals to families at their homes; this gave both the organisations a window of opportunity to harness the power of collaboration. With a true spirit of Kiwi perseverance from local volunteers; neonatal intensive care units across the country were stocked with Bellyful frozen meals before the nation went into lockdown.

Community Operations Advisor Lesh Dhesi connected with both organisations to capture a snippet of their mahi that was executed just hours before the lockdown. The currently open Community Operations Grant Scheme (COGS) provides grants to non-profit organisations delivering community-based social services that contribute to achieving locally-determined outcomes. Bellyful and The Neonatal Trust are recipients of COGS funding and a Lottery Community grant.

Are you an organisation wanting to collaborate with another local group in response to COVID-19? Contact an advisor in your area on 0800 824 824 or email: community.matters@dia.govt.nz

Picture of food packages collected and distributed by Bellyful