Jingo night at the Cabana helps fill Hawke’s Bay bellies

Lyn Churcher (left), Mareli Smith and Jane Tarrant cooking up a storm at one of the most recent Bellyful cook-a-thons.

Last year Bellyful Hawke’s Bay cooked and delivered more than 992 meals to 144 local whānau with babies or young children who needed support.

This year Bellyful is on track to have a record year as demand has nearly doubled since they expanded into Hastings in August 2022. They have already delivered 803 meals to 140 families this year.

Meals are often going out to exhausted new parents, many of who have no extended family locally, or who are just simply going through a tough patch.

Aliesha Gordon from Bellyful Hawke’s Bay explained the group also helps whānau when someone is unwell, or who has babies in SCBU.

“We’re here for anyone who needs a few meals to get through. We don’t offer advice. We don’t judge. We just provide meals,” Gordon said.

“This event is important because we know not everyone has a ‘village’ so we are there for anyone who doesn’t have those traditional support networks.”

As you can imagine cooking and delivering all these meals is not cheap so Bellyful Hawke’s Bay came up with a Jingo fundraiser at The Cabana, with all money raised going towards meals for local whānau.

For those confused about what Jingo is, well it’s just like bingo but with beats. Numbers are replaced with snippets of songs and all you have to do is listen to the Jingo tracks and when you hear a song on your game card, mark it off. Once you have marked off all the boxes on your game card, you yell out JINGO.

When asked why people should come out and support Bellyful, Gordon said the group can not do what they do without the support of our community.

“With rising ingredient costs and rising demand for our support, we need the local community to help us fill bellies through fundraisers, donations and support from local businesses and groups,” she said.

It’s going to be great and will be a fun night out and the group always loves connecting with our community, Gordon added.

Tickets need to be pre-booked by emailing sharne.ramsay@bellyful.org.nz.

Bellyful Hawke’s Bay Jingo fundraiser will be on Tuesday, July 25 at The Cabana on Shakespeare Rd, Napier.

Doors open at 6.15pm with a $10 entry fee and Jingo starts at 7pm.