Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale visits the Tauranga Community Foodbank to meet volunteers and see all the work the charity does leading up to Christmas. Video / Tauranga City Council
More than $145,000 in cash and food donations has been raised for the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas appeal in just four weeks.
As of 8am on Friday, $90,336 in cash and 18,367 food items valued at $3 each have been donated to the Tauranga Community Foodbank – atotal of $145,437 raised so far.
Tauranga Community Foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin said the appeal was gaining momentum.
“We are heading in the right direction with this appeal, thanks to all of you [the community].”
She said with only a week and a half until Christmas, the foodbank was asking the community to “dig deep”.
“Consider how a donation will help out their own community in the coming months.”
Goodwin said it was “wonderful” that people were taking notice of the foodbank’s wish list when making donations.
Items on this year’s wishlist were cereal, spreads, tinned fish, muesli bars, cocoa and icing sugar, coffee and drinking chocolate, deodorant and Christmas treats.
“You will not know who you may be working or living next door to, who are facing a situation where they need to reach out for food support,” she said.
Nicki Goodwin, Tauranga Community Foodbank general manager. Photo / Alex Cairns
This year, Tauranga Community Foodbank has supported 23,618 people and distributed 9520 kai packages.
Goodwin said the number of people needing a full week of food support, rather than four days, had increased by 145% from last year.
When the annual Christmas first launched, she told the Bay of Plenty Times there was always an increase in need during the Christmas and holiday season.
“This is when children are home from school, and parents and caregivers often need to take unpaid leave.”
The foodbank has supported more than 11,000 children, and 27% of the people supported had never used the service before.
“We know people don’t connect with us until they have nowhere else to go, and what that tells us is that there are a lot more people out there finding it really tough and maybe hanging on by the skin of their teeth.”
It was his first visit to the organisation, and Goodwin said it was the first visit from any Tauranga mayor in her 12-year tenure.
Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale at the Tauranga Foodbank with general manager Nicki Goodwin. Photo / Ayla Yeoman
Drysdale told the Bay of Plenty Times during his visit that he was “surprised” to learn that people with steady incomes, including nurses and teachers, were among residents seeking help to put food on the table.
He said he was “blown away” by the impact the foodbank was having in the community, adding a “massive thank you” to all the volunteers and donors.
“It’s making a real difference in the community.”
The Bay of Plenty Times’ annual six-week Christmas Appeal for the Tauranga Community Foodbank is now in its final fortnight.
The appeal collects donations of food and funds to help the foodbank through Christmas and into the new year.
Food donations can be made at libraries, Tauranga Crossing or the foodbank depot on Brook St, and money can be donated via taurangafoodbank.co.nz.
Kaitlyn Morrell is a 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.
