Covid angels delivering hope and a hand up during lockdown
Meet the invisible workers of Sydney who have rolled up their sleeves during the pandemic, delivering hope and kindness to those doing it tough.
NSW
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Tough times bring out the best local heroes but to the Hawkesbury region, Karen Stuttle truly is much more.
Through her volunteer group Mountain of Joy, run from inside her family’s garage, the high school teacher and mother-of-two from Kurrajong in Sydney’s west has been an anchor for her community for the past two years, supporting them through fire, flood and now a global pandemic.
After falling seriously ill with the flu in 2018 and needing help, Ms Stuttle made a Facebook post in December 2018, offering to cook a handful of lasagne trays for locals in need.
Other women put their hands up, and the group of volunteers cooked away for a handful of struggling residents until the Black Summer bushfires hit the Hawkesbury, and the floods, and then a global pandemic.
Ms Stuttle and her growing group of trusty volunteers haven’t stopped since.
As demand for help exploded, a stall her husband built outside their home turned into a garage of donated food from local residents, businesses and foodbanks, where elderly residents, single parents, or “anyone” in need can come and stock their cupboards for free.
Hampers get delivered for those unable to make it to the garage.
“Mountain of Joy took life of its own that I never intended, but it’s all I know how to do best,” Ms Stuttle said.
“People donated meals to fireys fighting the bushfires and food for families without homes, then this year during the floods, everyone struggling knew to come to me when we were cut off from the world, because I’d have what they needed.”
“People who we helped get back on their feet, some who cried and held onto me, now come back with bags and bags of groceries, toiletries and pay it forward, it’s a beautiful thing.”
TURBANS 4 AUSTRALIA
When disaster has struck across NSW in recent years, Turbans 4 Australia have often been close by soon after providing desperately needed food and support.
But rarely have they worked so close to their own backyard, with the Sikh charity group now handing out hundreds of desperately-needed food hampers to communities across Western Sydney crippled by lockdown.
For charity founder Amar Singh, his own day job is a reminder of the trying conditions Covid-19.
“I run a construction supplies company, we’ve been locked in for three weeks,” he said.
“I employ six people full-time, three part time, and we haven’t been able to work.
“Mentally it’s just frustrating – we’ve got to pay the leases for the trucks, insurances, we’re digging into our savings and putting it onto credit cards … you’re probably robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
But it hasn’t stopped him from his volunteer role co-ordinating Turbans 4 Australia, which has given out 100 tons of food across the country in the last 15 months.
“It takes your mind off things and makes you think there are people worse off than us who can’t even put food on the table at the moment … I can’t imagine having to say to your kids, ‘No you can’t have this or we can’t afford this’.”
He said the charity had one message it was giving out alongside its food hampers: hope.
“We just want people to be careful and safe and know there is help available, you’re not alone in this,” he said.
“We as Aussies are very lucky, we’re a generous nature and we look after each other.”
COA SYDNEY
Seniors charity COA Sydney helps vulnerable members of the community every day of the year, but their support has never been more vital that now.
The Eastern Suburbs based charity launched a food delivery program during the first wave of the pandemic but has seen a massive spike in families needing help during the current outbreak.
Chief executive Rachel Tanny said they are currently delivering boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables to up to 350 households a week.
“If they are in the eastern suburbs and they need help, they can reach out to us. We have a team of professional social workers who will do a quick intake on the phone and then we deliver their boxes to them,” she said.
“We do a market run every Tuesday morning and we also have two local bakeries, Bagle Co in Rose Bay and Grandma Moses in Kensington, who donate baked goods for each box.”
The massive effort is being run by 400 volunteers and 17 paid staff members who band together to help those in need.
“We’ve had a really huge spike in requests. Since the last lockdown ended, we kept the program running in a really limited capacity. We were servicing about 200 households. We are doing almost double that now.”
MUSTAFA ER
When Mustafa Er opened his Turkish street food store Two-and-a-half years ago, he didn’t expect the business to come to a screeching halt because of global pandemic.
In March last year, when NSW was gripped by its first wave of Covid-19, Mustafa’s Bosphorus Turkish Street Food restaurant in Wentworth Point suffered.
But it was the generosity of the local community that kept them afloat.
“Last year when we first went into lockdown, the support we received from locals was incredible. We had customers of ours put money in an envelop and hand it to me, $20, $50. People didn’t take their change when they bought something. We were one of the luck ones that are still open because of that,” he said.
And now it’s Mr Er’s turn to give back to the community.
The business owner posted in his local community page urging anyone who was unable to put food on the table to come to his restaurant and eat for free.
“When it (the lockdown) happened last month, I was at home having a chat with the missus. I thought why don’t we do this? I posted in the local community page,” he said.
“I believe what you do is what you get back. We are still struggling now, but not as bad as when it first hit us. What is it going to cost me to help people? The community helped us last year and I can’t thank them enough.”
Mr Er’s restaurant in the Parramatta local government area, one of eight LGAs that are under stricter lockdown restrictions.
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