Coronavirus: The man who has helped deliver $10,000 worth of groceries
Wednesday, 8 April 2020
He'd just finished praying when they approached with guns.
Harpreet Singh, born in India, was trying to start a new life in South Africa when the gunmen confronted him at the Sikh gurdwara on Christmas Eve 2013.
After his car was taken in the armed robbery outside the Sikh place of worship, Singh thought: 'If I can't even pray in peace, this is probably not the place for me.'
Singh started looking at Australia and New Zealand.
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'Frankly-speaking, I came to New Zealand because there are no snakes here,' he laughs.
He knew nobody in the country when he moved in 2014, and the local Sikh community were his 'only fallback' in the early days.
Later, after his family moved over, the father-of-two found friends at his job with Suncorp, based in the Auckland CBD Vero building. He also helped establish the SikhAware educational and community charity.
As the coronavirus pandemic made its presence felt in New Zealand, Singh started asking how he and SikhAware might help people in need.
For people in self-isolation, such as new arrivals from overseas or returning permanent residents obliged to stay home for 14 days, accessing groceries and essential goods could be a challenge.
Singh decided to harness his network to arrange deliveries of essential goods for people in self-isolation - for free.
The initiative gained momentum before the level four national lockdown was activated, and has continued since.
At a rough guess, it had delivered about $10,000 worth of goods in Auckland alone by the first weekend of April.
Stuff is celebrating coronavirus champions - including essential services workers and community volunteers like Singh - who are keeping New Zealand going through the lockdown.
People order groceries through the SikhAware-led group, and pay online. Dozens of volunteers then nationwide carry out free deliveries, leaving food at the doors of people in self-isolation.
'The service is open to all who are self-isolating,' Singh added. That included medical staff and others, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Volunteers operate in towns and cities including Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, and Christchurch.
'Today our volunteers consist of people from all faiths and groups including Christians, Muslims and Hindus.'
Singh says volunteers strictly follow health and safety guidelines.
He said about half the clients ordering the deliveries were elderly people.
One family who were self-isolating after returning from India had not eaten adequately for days, he said. 'They sent us a huge grocery list. They needed all kinds of essentials.'
It all stemmed from one thing Singh asked himself when Covid-19 started forcing people into isolation or quarantine.
'If I was in this position, who would help me?'