As people of Lautoka continue with the second week of lockdown, more assistance has come through for those who are in desperate need of food and other essential items.
This is for people who have been living from pay to pay and cannot go to work as their job site is outside the lockdown area, they have been laid off or their working hours have been reduced.
Times have been tough for some families due to job losses and reduced hours.
For people who are sole bread-winners in their families, they have been trying to make ends meet however it has been difficult.
The FNPF and government assistance packages are now rolling out but people are also wondering what will happen if the COVID-19 crisis continues and the businesses do not start getting workers back for some time.
Two men are spearheading an initiative in Lautoka to assist those in need. They are Lautoka businessman Narayan Reddy and resident Allen Lockington who have assisted more than 200 households in the past 3 days in the interior of Lautoka.
Lautoka Ratepayers and Residents Association Acting President, Allen Lockington says they received a call about a woman and her 4 children in Saru in Lautoka after her husband lost his job.
Lautoka resident Allen Lockington [R] distributing cartons of food to another resident in Lautoka
Lockington says her husband had gone to town to look for work but he could not find anything to do. He says the family had nothing and they were overjoyed to get about $60 worth of groceries.
Reddy says they are focused on helping out villages and settlements which includes Lovu settlement, Drasa settlement and the villages of Lawaki, Lomolomo and Vitogo village.
He says they have received donations from people in Suva and Lautoka.
Reddy says they are doing this as friends and to uplift people’s lives.
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