Hunger for Colour: Salvation Army receives food for test pots

Salvation Army Captain Stu Lee and Resene Palmerston North manager Jenna Kinsey.

At Friday's count of cans in the February Hunger for Colour campaign, Palmerston North locals had swapped 800 cans for test pots.

Resene Palmerston North manager Jenna Kinsey and Salvation Army Captain Stu Lee expect the number of cans to increase by the end of the week when the campaign finishes.

This is the sixth year the campaign offered Kiwis the chance to swap up to seven cans of food for seven Resene colour test pots for the Salvation Army Foodbank.

More than 2000 cans were donated at the Resene ColorShop in Palmerston North last year, with other stores close behind.

In five years the annual fundraiser has helped put more than 190,000 cans on foodbank shelves.

It has also proved a highlight in the year for craft and community groups, especially the popular rock painting groups, who eagerly anticipate the chance to restock and choose new colours.

For renovators it's the chance to try out multiple decorating colours for the cost of food cans is also not to be missed.

The cans are a major boost for Salvation Army foodbanks just at the right time, Salvation Army Territorial Director of Community Ministries, Jono Bell says.

"With Christmas and the back to school period being such a busy time of demand, many of our centres find themselves with bare shelves and needing cans to fill a family food parcel.

"When food stocks are low our centres really appreciate the arrival of Hunger for Colour and knowing the cans will start coming in."

In 2019, The Salvation Army provided more than 60,000 food parcels to New Zealanders struggling to put food on the table.

The generosity shown through Resene's Hunger for Colour in the past five years has made a real difference in helping ensure families don't go hungry in all parts of the country, Jono says.

"Pretty much everywhere we have a foodbank, there's a Resene ColorShop.

"It's an incredibly important fundraiser for us, so we can keep getting food to those that need it most in their time of need."

Resene marketing manager Karen Warman says the company first collected cans for The Salvation Army after the Canterbury earthquakes.

Staff and customers loved the idea and the company has been looking for ways to give back ever since, she says.

"The campaign has generated fantastic feedback over the past five years. People like donating food knowing it is going directly to help someone in their local community and the testpots are a popular, versatile product which encourages people to come in."

"We're looking forward to the total donations for Hunger for Colour reaching over 200,000 cans.

"The stores love it, customers love it and we love it."