They converged on St Enoch’s Church for the sixth annual Christmas Day barbecue lunch, hosted by the Alexandra, Clyde, Lauder Union Parish.
There was gratitude the pandemic did not stymie proceedings but for a group of five Malaysian women and one from Taiwan, Covid-19 and its impact on their lives was not far from their minds.
The women, who are working in a Central Otago cherry packhouse, said the pandemic had put paid to any plans of returning home.
The majority of them had come to New Zealand on December 4, 2019 and Covid-19 had left them stranded.
JiaQi Chan put it bluntly.
"That [Covid-19] is why we are still here — we can’t go back."
Christmas was new to all but one of the six, but they had adapted quickly.
Christchurch couple Jenney and David Manks had taken a break from the rail trail to lend a hand.
"We decided to come down to do the rail trail — it’s something we decided to do when we were old," Mrs Manks said.
Both volunteered at the Christchurch City Mission once a week and so the opportunity to volunteer in Alexandra was a case of "when in Rome".
"We didn’t want to just come and eat. You chat to the person next to you chopping tomatoes and then you feel like you’ve earned your lunch," Mrs Manks said.
Alexandra, Clyde, Lauder Union Parish Parish minister the Rev Andrew Howley said the numbers at this years’ open-to-all event were slightly down on previous years, again reflective of the situation.
"We usually have a third volunteers, a third older people, and a third fruit pickers."
There were fewer fruit pickers this year.
He and two friends from Scotland started the event when a "more formal" Christmas dinner in Alexandra folded, he said.
"We stepped into the breach."
They focused on the classic Kiwi barbecue model, Mr Howley said.
"It’s about a community coming together for Christmas and to celebrate our common humanity."
