Opinion: Thank you Tauranga for foodbank generosity!

Volunteer Chris Olsen is one of many people who keep the foodbank ticking over. Photo/file

What an incredible way to end the year.

When I came into work yesterday, I was greeted with the exciting news that the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal had broken last year's record, raising an incredible $124,191 for the Tauranga Community Foodbank - and it's all thanks to the generous people of Tauranga.

As co-ordinator of the appeal, I was fortunate enough to witness many stories of generosity as people dug deep to give what they could to a very worthy - and necessary - organisation.

Throughout our three can drives in Greerton, Bellevue and Arataki, our volunteers were greeted with big smiles and open pantries.

Local businesses opened their chequebooks and encouraged staff to participate in collections of food.

Families, service clubs, individuals and community groups came up with innovative ways to drum up donations.

All this effort resulted in about 1200 items of food being donated each day of the appeal.

That's a lot of food to feed a lot of hungry families in this city.

Seventeen thousand people were fed by the foodbank in the year to June, which equates to about 13 per cent of the city's population in just one year becoming desperate enough to need help feeding themselves and their families.

The figures are alarming.

It's hard to believe that in this day and age, in our beautiful slice of paradise called Tauranga, this many people are in so much need.

The foodbank has strict rules to ensure that food parcels only go to those people that actually need them.

The organisation knows it is accountable to the people that give them donations, so it makes sure every morsel is used wisely and in a way that ensures people are given a hand up, not a hand out.

And it doesn't take much these days to be in need. With housing and rental prices the way they are, a redundancy, a death in the family or a broken-down car can have a devastating impact on already struggling families.

It can happen to anyone.

Judging by the huge response to our appeal this year, I'm not alone in being alarmed by those figures.

But I'm also not alone in wanting to do something to help.

It's important to have empathy for those less fortunate than ourselves, especially at this time of the year.

Every dollar donated, every can collected, will help someone who, for whatever reason, needs a helping hand - without judgment.

Thank you, Tauranga, for being so generous.