Thames supermarket pairs with refuge to provide practical support to the cyclone-affected

Pak'nSave Thames has partnered with a local refuge to provide gift cards to people short of Kai. Photo / Alison Smith

Pak’nSave has announced plans to help communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle through a new initiative called ‘Pak Your Pantry’.

The initiative aims to work with community partners in the worst affected areas including Hauraki and the Coromandel Peninsula to support families who’ve been displaced, or whose homes have been inundated, helping them get back on their feet by providing Pak’nSave vouchers.

The support is focused on getting the essentials back into the pantries of families who’ve been severely impacted and rebuilding communities through local organisations.

Pak’nSave is committed to working with local partners to ensure the support reaches those who need it most.

Pak’nSave’s community partners will distribute gift cards to families who have been severely impacted.

The dollar value recipients will receive is based on the size of the family, with a small whānau of two adults and two children receiving $600 to ‘Pak Your Pantry’ and a larger whānau of four adults and six children receiving $800.

Pak’nSave’s community partners include the Thames supermarket, which has paired with Te Whariki Manawahine O Hauraki Coromandel/Hauraki Refuge.

Matt Heap, owner operator of Pak’nSave Thames said his store was “really fortunate to escape the flooding, thanks to the nature of geography” in the area.

He has seen first-hand the impacts caused to the community during this past summer’s cyclones and flooding: “some people have had no power, no hot water, no refrigeration. There were so many unintended consequences.”

“We take so much for granted.”

Denise Messiter is the general manager of Te Whariki Manawahine O Hauraki Coromandel/Hauraki Refuge, which has been operating for four years.

The refuge uses a kaupapa Māori approach to support whānau to recover and heal from domestic violence.

Messiter said the impact of weather events, coming hot on the heels of Covid lockdowns had stalled “whanau access to kai - particularly in small, isolated communities like Kennedy Bay that have had problems with water infrastructure”.

The refuge’s role is to help with food distribution and use its network to apportion vouchers.

“People message us to access food and need a regular food top-up Through the Pataki Kai,” (a community pantry model that operates in Hauraki), said Denise.

Matt Heap said the initiative “has kicked off already,” and he is happy to be partnered with Te Whariki Manawahine O Hauraki Coromandel and said they “do great work and understand it better than us”.

“During Covid, we learnt a lot more about our communities and we need community partners who know people.”

Heap added the idea was to hone a long-term relationship with community organisations like the refuge who also help with waste minimisation.

”We want food to go into mouths, not landfill.”

Denise added that everyone has a social responsibility regardless of circumstance: " We are all responsible for caring for our community, no matter how we do it.”

Foodstuffs has also enabled customers to donate directly to the Red Cross New Zealand Disaster Fund through in-store posters and QR codes across its 550 stores throughout the motu.