Fill the Bus is back for 2025 collecting food donations for the Rotorua Salvation Army foodbank.
It “really speaks to the heart” when a community facing widespread hardship comes together to collect more than $22,000 worth of food and gift items, says Darnielle Hoods.
The Rotorua Salvation Army community ministries manager said this year’s Fill the Bus campaign proved “we aren’t a city who says things– we actually show up and do it”.
The appeal runs for six weeks and supports the Rotorua Salvation Army Foodbank.
A total of 7436 food and gift items were loaded onto the bus. Valued at an average of $3 each by the foodbank, the single-day haul totalled to $22,308.
Hoods said it was an “absolutely incredible” day, with the bus hitting the road just after 7.30am and unloading, counting and sorting continuing at the Salvation Army until a similar time in the evening.
A CityRide bus, donated by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, stopped at supermarkets, shopping centres and workplaces, collecting donations from members of the public alongside large hauls gathered through organised school and business drives.
At each stop, volunteers worked quickly to unload boxes and baskets filled with canned goods, pasta, rice and other long-life essentials, stacking them tightly inside the bus before moving on to the next location.
The day was powered by up to 50 volunteers, Hoods said.
Senior school students gave up their time alongside Salvation Army staff and volunteers. Hoods said local organisations allowed their staff to volunteer for the day.
Rotorua Salvation Army community ministries manager Darnielle Hoods (left) and community ministries’ wellbeing team leader Sally Wilson with Fill the Bus organiser and The Hits Rotorua presenter Paul Hickey. Photo / Annabel Reid
“We had such a fun time together, and that cross-organisation collaboration is what makes this work,” Hoods said.
Salvation Army community ministries wellbeing team leader Sally Wilson said one volunteer was blown away by the smiles on children’s faces each time the bus pulled into a school.
In total, the bus visited 13 schools during the day.
Otonga Rd Primary School principal Gareth Cunliffe said the initiative was a way of “teaching our tamariki to look after people who are less fortunate”.
Hoods said the morning after Fill the Bus, there were queues of people waiting outside the Salvation Army in need of support.
The generosity “will make a genuine difference for people in our community”, she said.
Fill the Bus stops that helped deliver the day’s donations:
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.
