But the city has an underlying current of thousands of people who need a basic necessity: food.
The Tauranga Community Foodbank supported 24,434 people over the past year - up about 9.5% on the year before. They came from 7862 households and included more than 12,000 children.
“It used to be very much income-based. Someone who was trying to survive on a benefit would traditionally be seen to need more help than someone who was working.
“That’s changed.”
‘All it can take is a dentist visit’
Goodwin said clients were referred to the foodbank by schools, community centres, counsellors, and budgeting services.
The number of people referred from a financial mentoring service had “skyrocketed”, she said.
With increases in the costs of housing, insurance and rates, “all it can take is a dentist visit and we get a referral through”.
It was “quite worrying” that people were in a position of having to choose between paying for a dentist visit or eating.
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said the foodbank was set up in 1991 and was never meant to be long-term. Photo / Megan Wilson
Goodwin said the cost of housing was “indiscriminate” and people were facing “a huge amount” each week to keep a roof over their heads.
Foodbank clients needed to “free up money in the budget” for other things, such as saving them from a mortgagee sale or “to keep the car on the road so they can keep working”.
She said the foodbank did not request Government funding but the Government had given it “a little bit” recently.
“We’re really lucky in Tauranga because there are all these amazing philanthropists and other funders that we apply to every year.”
Lotto funding from the Department of Internal Affairs was also great support, she said.
Goodwin said funders paid for its operating costs, “then the community donate money and food and that goes towards the food costs”.
‘Best thing I have ever done’
Goodwin said the idea of helping people drew her to the managerial position.
“I hadn’t given much thought to what that meant to be working with volunteers or how necessary they are. And that’s definitely been a highlight for me.”
She managed 60 volunteers “on a normal week”. Between 80 and 100 volunteers were rostered weekly for the annual Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal.
The six-week appeal, supported by The Hits Bay of Plenty 95.0FM, supports the foodbank.
“Our responsibility is to take really good care of the resources that are given to us by the community ... and make sure that they are then shared with the people who need it most in an appropriate way.”
Goodwin said she aimed to serve at least one client per day “because it keeps me really grounded”.
“I don’t know how our volunteers actually do it every day because you know that people are having a really tough day ... to have to come here.”
She said everyone at the foodbank did their “absolute best” to “share that feeling of equality and respect”.
Before becoming manager, she was raising her two children.
Road trip leg 4.
Before that, she worked at ACC, which also involved helping people.
Goodwin said working at the foodbank was “the best thing I have ever done in my life”.
Every year, she checked in with herself after Christmas and the New Year and asked herself, “What do I see happening this year? What are our goals? What changes do we need to make? Do I have the energy and am I the right person for it? ... To make sure it’s a yes.
“Because otherwise, why would you stay if you don’t have that energy and that passion for it anymore?
“I think because it changes so constantly, that is actually something I enjoy ... so I’m lucky in that regard.
“It’s a very cool place to be part of.”
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
