Christmas Appeal: Christmas Movie in the Park sees hundreds of donations flow for the Tauranga Community Foodbank

Hundreds of donations poured in for the Tauranga Community Foodbank as The Hits Christmas movie night doubled attendees on last year.

The Hits Christmas Movie in the Park screened the Christmas classic The Grinch at a free community movie night on Saturday, in partnership with Pacific Toyota.

It comes as the Bay of Plenty Times’ six-week Christmas Appeal for the foodbank is nearing the end of its fourth week.

NZME’s Bay of Plenty promotions manager Hamish Gleeson said the event “blew all expectations out of the water” and doubled the attendees when compared to last year with about 1000 people heading down on Saturday.

With the sun out, families everywhere and Christmas music playing, he said it felt like “classic summer Christmas vibes”.

Attendees donated 536 food items, most of which were canned goods, and valued at $1340 with the foodbank valuing each item at $2.50.

“Some very kind people were donating amazing goods like Essano skin care products, someone donated a whole bunch of women’s period care products, and we even got some pegs,” Gleeson said.

Gleeson thanked everyone for supporting the event, with every item donated making the “difference between someone getting food or not”.

He said it had “ambitious goals” and would like to bring it back next year.

Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said the donations from the “awesome community event” were up on last year’s 400 items donated.

“Free community events are such a highlight for many people, then adding in the opportunity to donate food items to foodbank is a massive plus.”

This year has seen “record demand”, as the organisation spent an average of $20,012 per month on staple foods, compared to $14,758 a month the year before.

About 1000 people attended The Hits Christmas in the Park for the Tauranga Community Foodbank. Photo / Hamish Gleeson

Its 12-month food budget was spent in five months, and it needed to make changes to the types of food it purchased.

As a result, the foodbank hasn’t been able to include snack foods for families such as two-minute noodles, muesli bars, chips or crackers in the average of 33 parcels sent out each day.

Cash donations were also welcomed, as they meant the foodbank could purchase items it needed when it needed them.

Last year’s six-week appeal saw $256,471 donated - $167,758.84 in cash and $88,712 in food donations, with each item valued at $2.50. It was the highest amount raised in the appeal’s history. The second-highest was a total of $254,416, donated in 2020.

Tauranga Community Foodbank wishlist 2023

• Treats
• Cereal
• Spreads
• Nappies: Size four, five, six
• Drinking chocolate and coffee
• Muesli bars
• Canned fruit
• Tinned fish

Any items are welcome, even if they’re not on the list. Cash donations are also welcome.

Cira Olivier is a social issues and breaking news reporter for NZME Bay of Plenty. She has been a journalist since 2019.