Napier dairy leaves free food outside for those in need during lockdown

Napier's Creagh St Store left bread, milk and flour outside store for the elderly and vulnerable to take, free of charge. Photo / Paul Taylor

A Napier dairy has given away food to more than a hundred families in need within its Te Awa community.

Creagh St Store left bread, milk and flour outside its shop for the elderly and vulnerable to take, free of charge.

Store owner Jagjiwan Singh said his Sikh heritage and desire to give back were the main factors behind the gesture.

"We are from the Sikh community and this is how we grew up – to give 10 per cent of your income to those who need it," he said.

"We aren't a big supermarket, we're just a small shop, but this is our culture. This is how Sikh families grew up, to share with everyone."

Jagjiwan added: "We saw what had been happening with coronavirus and thought we should do our bit to help the poorer people and elderly in the community stay healthy and safe."

The store, which gave out the food between 4pm and 6pm on Monday, has also recently sponsored local schools' sports teams and provided free lunches for school children.

A strict one at a time and 2m social distancing rules applied throughout.

Originally from Auckland, the Singh family moved to Napier 10 years ago, with the store owner's son, Jazz, stating their warm welcome to the city played a part in their generous offering.

"When we first moved here, we were given a lot of help and support from the community and at this time it is hard for some families and we wanted to give back that support," he said.

"There are families here that are worse off than most people at the moment and people who cannot afford bread, milk and flour so we gave it away to over 100 families on the day."

Jazz said they have since also delivered further food items to those who could not make it to the store.

"We are going to try to do it again, hopefully on this Monday coming."