Kāpiti Community Foodbank volunteers Helen Bannon, left, and Kim Lancaster. Photo / David Haxton
Kāpiti Community Foodbank volunteers Helen Bannon, left, and Kim Lancaster. Photo / David Haxton
With Kāpiti Community Foodbank's huge fundraising campaign to buy its own relocatable building, it's a good time to meet two of its longest-serving volunteers — Helen Bannon and Kim Lancaster.
Helen estimates she's been with the foodbank for about 20 years, starting when it was in Magrath Ave, Paraparaumu Beach.
"I joined because I thought it was a nice charity to be involved with and I also knew one or two people there.
"We're all like-minded and have a lot of fun together."
She has volunteered for two hours a week and done a variety of tasks, especially creating food parcels.
"Then he got well and went back to sea [in the Merchant Navy] so I just took it over."
Kim would go on to hold a variety of roles including president and chairwoman.
Helen and Kim said they enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow volunteers as well as a sense of helping others in need.
"Seeing people's gratitude, which we don't expect, is good," Kim said.
"And you realise how lucky we are and how poorly off some people are, a lot of it through no fault of their own," Helen added.
"It's sad when you see people come in with small children.
"You wonder what their circumstances are but it pays not to wonder too much."
They've seen a rise in customers from days when only a handful of clients came in to growth "out of all proportions".
While most of the clients are kind and considerate there have been one or two incidents over the years.
"A woman came in, after she had already received a food parcel, and was told she couldn't have another, so she grabbed a bottle of sauce and threw it with the contents going everywhere," Helen said.
Some of the stock at Kāpiti Community Foodbank. Photo / David Haxton
They've also seen quite a few changes, from working in the smaller confines of the Magrath Ave base to operating from a larger space in a building next to the expressway underpass in Paraparaumu, and then to running the foodbank from the Te Newhanga Kāpiti Community Centre.
The foodbank has to move because of weather tightness issues in the community centre, including increased toxic mould levels, and is trying to fundraise $150,000 to buy a relocatable building, place it on some land in Paraparaumu where it has secured a 10-year lease, and kit it out to its requirements.
The fundraising is going well, with $100,000 raised already.
"It's going to be great to have our own place so we don't have to move again," Kim said.
"It's really stressful having to move."
She was a bit worried about the ongoing costs but "knowing that's it is going to be ours is so great".
Originally the Kāpiti Salvation Army ran a foodbank from its shop. Kāpiti Birthright also operated one but it too found it needed more people, space and money to make the venture work properly.
Kāpiti Coast District Council community development officer Margaret Brooker organised a community meeting which led to a committee forming the Kāpiti Community Foodbank.
It became an incorporated society in 1999 and set up shop in Hinemoa St, behind the premises used by shoemaker Jim McIntosh.
By November 2001, with the financial support from the Kāpiti Salvation Army, the foodbank moved into Te Roto Drive, but when the landlord wanted to double the rent and make the foodbank the main leaseholder, it was time to move again.
In March 2003 it was offered space at the Lighthouse Church (later known as the Oasis) in Magrath Ave, where it stayed until late 2016 when it needed to move again.
After a short time at Kāpiti Salvation Army, as an interim measure, it moved into a building in Kāpiti Rd, next to the expressway underpass, before moving into the community centre last year.
The foodbank's policy has always been to provide a three-day food parcel to anyone who asks, although it tries to connect the person with various other services within three visits.
