Girls get foodbank bags overflowing

Caitlin Reeves, 7, among some of the food collected for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. Photo/Stephen Parker

Collecting food for the Salvation Army Foodbank has given 24 young girls a valuable insight into the people in their community struggling to get by.

This year, the Rotorua Daily Post is collecting food on behalf of the foodbank for its 2015 Christmas Appeal and local businesses, community organisations and individuals are getting on board.

Debbie Cobby, the leader of 24th Rotorua Brownies, said the girls were asked to come up with an idea for a community project - something they did on a regular basis.

"We put the question to them about what ideas they had. They came up with a number of suggestions, but the most popular idea was to collect food for those in need."

In September, the girls had to complete a 12-hour service day by helping out various community organisations around Rotorua, one of which was the foodbank.

"We wanted to add to that and make it bigger and better," Mrs Cobby said. "We talked with the girls about what the foodbank was and how they could help contribute towards it."

The girls were each given a large brown paper bag that they decorated and used to collect food, with the help of their parents, friends and neighbours.

"Many walked around their street with their parents and collected their food that way. We sent out 24 bags, one for each of the girls, and we would have several trolley loads full of food that they collected - and that's only about half of it, the rest is still coming."

Mrs Cobby said she was extremely proud of the commitment and effort the girls had put in to the collection.

The Brownies' hall is filled with canned foods, pasta, soup mixes, boil-in-a-bag rice and lots of packet foods.

Mrs Cobby said it was a good time of year to do a can drive, with Christmas coming up.

"I think the appeal is an important thing for the foodbank. It's the time of year when the other families out there who don't struggle can celebrate, but it's much harder for those that are struggling, it helps make things better for them."

Mrs Cobby said the girls had learned valuable lessons from taking part in the collection.