Thank you very much for the grocery shopping!

A bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates is a pretty good gesture at the best of times.

But Liz Whitton and the team of RDC Welfare staff and volunteers were knocked out of their socks when they all received a lovely box of chocolates out of the blue.

Liz, and Vicki of Council’s Welfare Team, along with the band of tireless volunteers – Mike, Katie, and Lynley were surprised and delighted to receive a thankyou-box of chocolates each from Brendon Shoebridge, owner/ manager of New World. The chocolates were in appreciation for their work during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Welfare Team were exceedingly busy during the lockdown over level four and three. Throughout this time they carried out the supermarket shopping for elderly residents in Bulls, Marton and Hunterville. Firstly, because sometimes the elderly find it difficult in the best of times to do their shopping, but secondly, during the lockdown, it has enabled our most vulnerable residents to be protected from possible virus exposure they could have encountered while shopping.

Now that we are into level 2, the team have just finished ringing all the elderly residents that they have been shopping for over the past seven weeks. And the response from these folk has been as equally delicious as the chocolates from New World. “Everyone I talked to expressed their gratitude for our help and service,” says Liz.

“Comments such as ‘absolutely marvellous’, ‘wonderful service’, ‘has helped us immensely’, and ‘we are so very grateful’, were just a few of the heart-felt messages of thanks we received.

“This has been a fantastic initiative for Council to be a part of and shows just what an important function of Council the care of our seniors is,” Liz notes.

The Welfare Team went out twice a week at 7.30 in the morning to do the shopping and dropping it around to some very grateful people. And not only were our elderly appreciative of having their groceries brought to them, they also relished the social contact they had with the team.

“An example of this was a note from Kathy in Hunterville to Mike thanking him for his weekly shopping trips and chats,” says Liz.

Brendon at New World was very thankful to our Welfare Team too. He said their shopping expeditions on behalf of our elderly acted as another level of safety and protection both for them and for other supermarket shoppers. “It took a bit of pressure off my staff having the Welfare Team do the shopping for our seniors,” he said.

Council also wishes to express its gratitude to the Welfare Team for its dedication to the community.

CE Peter Beggs comments, “It shows just what a great heart our community has and highlights the calibre of Council staff and their desire to do the very best by our residents and ratepayers. I personally commend and thank all members of the Welfare team. I have also received lovely messages and cards with words of gratitude and appreciation from members of our community, it is great to be acknowledged by messages of kindness in appreciation of our efforts.”