Pippa Hinton at the Waikanae Food Share. Photo / Grace Odlum
Pippa Hinton at the Waikanae Food Share. Photo / Grace Odlum
In a Waikanae church hall, every Friday morning, a wide range of food items are placed on tables by volunteers.
Once everything is ready, the doors open at 10.30am and a steady stream of people come in to select items to take home.
Welcome to the Waikanae Food Share, an initiative that has been running for the last two and half years in St Luke’s Anglican Church.
It was started by Pippa Hinton, who said the food share was a “reinvention of a food bank”.
“It’s a simple free food shop wanting to give real help to local families. Our point of difference is that you can come every week if you need to, and you don’t need to prove that you need food. Because of the way we’re set up, we don’t take personal information from people.”
The food comes via Kaibosh Food Rescue Kāpiti, the L’Arche garden in Paraparaumu, and donations from parishioners in three Anglican churches in Waikanae, which enables food to be purchased from supermarkets.
When the initiative started, it was helping about 20 to 30 people; now, it supports around 60, ranging from individuals who live alone to families.
People come from across the district, but the majority are from Paraparaumu and Waikanae.
They get to choose their own food, although sometimes there are item limits.
“There might be a note on the table saying take one, or take two, depending on what we have available.”
Some of the many items at Waikanae Food Share. Photo / Grace Odlum
Once people have stocked up, they can have a cuppa, something to eat and a chat.
For Hinton, the purpose of the food share was more than just helping people.
“It’s taking the shame out of the process of getting a food parcel when you need one, especially to feed your babies, but we also have a lot of elderly people who don’t have enough to make ends meet.”
The food share had “a really good team” of between eight to 10 volunteers.
And there were no plans to change what has been a successful format.
“It’s about staying in your lane, keeping it simple, and doing it well to help people.
“We think this is something people can copy in their space quite easily.”
Meanwhile, a special concert has been arranged to raise money for the Waikanae Food Share so it can assemble free Christmas meal kits for people.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year. We’re hoping to raise enough funds for 125 meal kits. Last year we did 95 kits, but the cost of food is more and the need is bigger. Each kit is priced at $80.”
The concert, A Celebration of Classical Music, takes place in the Waikanae Presbyterian Church, 43 Ngaio Rd, on Sunday November 26 from 3pm.
It features music by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, and the late Waikanae composer Jillian Bray.
There will be performances by Angela Ford (clarinet), Anne Ballinger (flute), Heather Cameron (organ), Anne Solomon (violin), Jenny Scarlet (piano), and special guest soloist Ben Kennedy (piano).
