Christmas Appeal: $52,700 cash and food donation for Tauranga Foodbank

Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin. Photo / George Novak

More than $52,000 worth of cash and food donations have been made to Tauranga Community Foodbank with three weeks of the Christmas Appeal left to go - nearly double the amount collected at the same point last year.

The Bay of Plenty Times, in partnership with Gilmours Wholesale Food and Beverage Tauriko, launched its annual, six-week Christmas Appeal for the Tauranga Community Foodbank on November 7 and will finish on December 19.

As of yesterday morning, there had been more than $52,707 in cash and food donations.

The donations this year have so far proven the generosity of the Tauranga community, with almost twice as much donated now as at the four-week point last year.

For this appeal, $38,707 in cash donations have been made compared to $20,595 donated at the same time last year.

On top of the cash donations, 7000 food items have been donated, more than double the 3833 last year.

The donations have come from people and businesses who have been supporting the Foodbank for years.

Like the hundreds of desserts donated by Melba Elite Foods, or thousands of tubs of margerine donated by Bakels Edible Oils.

There were also people and businesses streaming through that have not had any contact with the service before.

Bluehaven Groups had never worked with the Foodbank and this year donated $15,000 for a van which has been a vital asset to both the running of the service as well as the clients.

The overflowing generosity from the community has gone hand-in-hand with the overwhelming demand for food, which was growing before the pandemic increased demand.

Since the appeal began, there had been 377 food parcels handed out - about 16 parcels a day.

The parcels were bigger than in previous years, lasting a minimum of four days instead of three.

Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said they would need at least $120,000 for food alone moving into the new year.

With a world that has been hard-hit by the pandemic, Tauranga is no different, and Goodwin said every little bit counts.