Whangārei charity Soul Food ends Monday night free meals after 14 years

Chris Youens and Rochelle Hedges-Youens have served up Soul Food What's Cooking Whangārei's last weekly dinner, although the charity will continue to offer food parcels. Photo / Denise Piper

A charity which helped feed Whangārei’s homeless is stopping its once-a-week free meals due to the ill health of its main organiser.

For 14 years, Rochelle Hedges-Youens and husband Chris Youens were the driving force behind Soul Food What’s Cooking Whangārei, which offered weekly free dinners to about 120 homeless and disenfranchised people.

The humble couple said the initiative started with a group of people, and was supported by many volunteers and business donations over the years.

But Hedges-Youens is struggling with declining health, and no one has been able to step up to take the place of the dedicated couple.

This means Soul Food’s free dinners will no longer be offered on Monday nights at the Anglican Church hall in Regent, although the charity will continue to offer food parcels, she said.

The last dinner was a special Christmas one, on December 22.

“It hasn’t been a light decision,” said Hedges-Youens, who admitted to shedding tears over the end of the weekly meals. “I want to focus on family now.”

Youens said the weekly meals took plenty of commitment from the couple, who picked up donated food, stored items in their personal freezers and made sure they had all the ingredients for the next meal.

“As soon as we’ve done the Monday meal, we’re organising the following week,” he said.

The food parcels will still involve picking up and storing donated food, but the couple will have more control over what days to volunteer, Youens said.

Soul Food was begun to help feed those who were struggling, with Hedges-Youens motivated by a rough time in her teenage years.

In the past 14 years, it has changed what it offers, from on-site meals twice a week to takeaway meals offered on Mondays.

Hedges-Youens said the service was originally moved around the city, including using the Rose St Bus Stop and Water St carpark, but it has been settled in the Anglican Church hall for eight or nine years.

Since it started, more community organisations have been set up to help feed Whangārei’s rough sleepers, she said.

“I feel a bit of relief now knowing that there are other places that actually do a free meal because when we started, there was no one,” Hedges-Youens said.

“We’re grateful that they’re still going to be fed and looked after.”

The couple have given plenty to Soul Food, but they have also gained a good deal from the charity, Hedges-Youens said.

The pair met through Soul Food and eventually married in the Anglican Church across the road from the hall, bringing up their blended family to help with the volunteering, she said.

Hedges-Youens has been struggling with fatigue due to an uncontrolled health condition, and she will now focus on her own health and her family.

Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.