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What We Did
The UC Student Volunteer Army (SVA) club was formed from the rubble of the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes by a keen group of university students, who mobilised thousands of student volunteers to help their community in need. In the same spirit, during the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown the UC SVA worked alongside the SVA Foundation (a nationwide non-profit organisation focused on promoting volunteering in students) and several other community partners to provide a grocery delivery service. Elderly, disabled, or otherwise at-risk citizens were unable to leave their homes to shop for groceries, and the existing service providers were unable to meet the demand presented. To service this need, the SVA developed an online shopfront and transaction platform with New World, giving recipients a secure payment service and a selection from hundreds of products; while mobilising volunteers across the country to fulfil the grocery orders through their local supermarkets. The UC SVA executive committee members were heavily involved as the screening panel for prospective volunteers, and acting as leaders for local teams in the supermarkets. At its peak, the service had over 3000 volunteers operating throughout the country, and was run by a team of 96 incredible individuals.
The service was suspended when the country returned to Alert Level 2 and left lockdown, but was resumed in Auckland when the country returned to Level 4 lockdown in August 2021. As the framework was already established, the UC SVA were primarily focused on assisting the SVA foundation in interviewing new and returning volunteers. During the first few days of being reopen, the service saw its largest day of orders with over 136 being placed in Auckland alone. Over 1600 grocery orders were fulfilled, by a team that grew up to 300 large.
Who Was Involved
The Student Volunteer Army Foundation.
Why It Matters
The SVA’s grocery delivery service gave volunteers the opportunity to make an impact during a time of crisis: providing a small but vital service to those who were unable to leave their homes, and in doing so reducing strain on other support organisations. The grocery delivery framework the SVA created in 2020 worked at scale, and it was easily rolled out again during the August 2021 lockdown in Auckland.
Learn More
For more information about the SVA, visit www.sva.org.nz
