For Kay Laing, volunteering at Tauranga Community Foodbank has been "a real eye-opener".
Mrs Laing started volunteering at the foodbank about a month ago and, in that time, had learned a lot about what goes on out of sight in the community.
Mrs Laing said she decided to start helping out at the foodbank after she left her job working in a shop.
She had always enjoyed helping others in her community by doing things like cooking meals for people, so has discovered the foodbank is a good fit.
"I didn't want to go and work in another shop so I thought 'why not work for the foodbank?' It's just lovely here.