Tauranga Community Foodbank’s Jordy Gastmeier gratefully accepted a $3000 cheque from Tauranga City Sunrise Lions this week. Photo / Supplied
Tauranga Community Foodbank’s Jordy Gastmeier gratefully accepted a $3000 cheque from Tauranga City Sunrise Lions this week. Photo / Supplied
Almost $122,000 in food and funds has been donated to the Tauranga Community Foodbank as the Bay of Plenty Times’ Christmas Appeal hits the halfway mark.
Week three of the annual six-week appeal saw a flurry of community donations roll in for the foodbank.
As of 8am Friday, the appeal’sdonation tally was $121,956, including $75,300 in cash donations and 15,552 food items valued by the foodbank at an average of $3 each.
Tauranga Community Foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin said the donations reminded her of the generous community.
“A lot of local people appreciate the importance of the foodbank service and understand that these donations will go towards purchasing nutritious foods for people who would otherwise go hungry.”
She said it had been an “epic” week for the foodbank.
“We have had great conversations with fabulous donors, met many new friends, and received the spoils from the emergency services’ Neighbourhood Support Food Drive.”
“The shelves are being restocked, and there are items boxed up to help out in the coming months.”
Tauranga’s emergency services crews and volunteers ran a drive for Tauranga Foodbank on December 2. Photo / David Hall
Goodwin said the foodbank was one-third of the way to meeting last year’s cash donations and halfway to this year’s goal.
“Every donation adds to the big picture, and I want to remind people that every dollar donated will be spent on purchasing nutritious food.”
A local family of regular foodbank supporters pledged to pay $10,000 on Friday.
A combined $15,000 was donated by donors who wished to remain anonymous.
This included a $5000 donation towards groceries, including some special treats for those aged over 65 years.
“Every single dollar donated makes a real difference,” Goodwin said.
Another $5000 was donated by a local charitable trust, and a regular annual donor also donated the same amount.
Local law firm Holland Beckett contributed $1000, and the Sunrise Lions of Tauranga donated $3000 from selling firewood.
“When substantial gifts like this are combined with the many smaller donations we receive, it gives us the ability to plan with confidence, knowing our community will be supported in the months to come,” Goodwin said.
Tauranga City Sunrise Lions gathered on December 2 at Greerton firewood yard to gift $3000 to the Tauranga Community Foodbank.
The Lions’ firewood mission made the most of a donated natural resource – chopping it up and selling a low-cost firewood option to the community.
Tauranga Community Foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell
In turn, the funds raised were gifted to charities and community organisations around the Bay of Plenty.
Acting chairman Martin Jacobsen said a core group of Tauranga City Sunrise Lions members had worked hard all year, and were pleased to donate $3000 to the appeal.
This year, Tauranga Community Foodbank has supported 23,618 people, and has distributed 9520 kai packages.
Those helped included more than 11,000 children, and 27% of people supported had never used the foodbank service before.
Key items on the foodbank’s wishlist this year were cereal, spreads, tinned fish, muesli bars, cocoa and icing sugar, coffee and drinking chocolate, deodorant and, of course, Christmas treats.
Other items were welcomed as long as they were unopened, undamaged and not expired – cash contributions, too, were appreciated.
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.
