COVID-19: FRIEND Fiji And Lautoka Ratepayers Association To Assist Affected Lautoka Residents

Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprise Development (FRIEND) Fiji and the Lautoka Ratepayers Association will distribute groceries this Wednesday to assist low income earning families affected in the Lautoka confinement area.

Lautoka Ratepayers Association Acting President Allen Lockington said the eligibility of interested people would be assessed.

“We won’t just pick them on face value, if someone says they’ve been made redundant, we will go to the house and assess whether they are really redundant,” Mr Lockington said.

“Some people have come forward on Facebook, but we will start on Wednesday and what we will be looking at is those people who are casual workers, but are on rent.

“We will ask the government if the water bill and electricity bill could be waived just for that 14 days.”

He said the main focus was to assist those in need during the lockdown period.

“The basic food items like flour, biscuit, salad oil, potatoes, onions and one of the members suggested buying root crops and vegetables like pumpkin.”

Mr Lockington said the association had been carrying out charity work for a few years and welcomed the expertise and bigger network that FRIEND Fiji has offered.

FRIEND Fiji Director Sashi Kiran said the initiative was a temporary medium of assistance until the government devised more permanent measures next week.

“All the resources will come to us and we will organise and package and we will work with the Ratepayers Association to distribute.

“We have also become inundated with requests but we’ve also had people donating so that’s been good,” she said.

Edited by Ivamere Nataro

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