Rotorua Christmas Appeal: Ngongotahā donates $5400 to fire brigade’s foodbank drive

On Monday night, residents of Ngongotahā dug deep for the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal and donated $5491 in food donations towards the cause.

At 6pm, three of the Ngongotahā Volunteer Fire Brigade’s engines left the station with sirens sounding and lights flashing, calling for the community to support the Salvation Army Rotorua’s foodbank.

As the sun set, the trucks drove from door to door collecting donations. Not even a brief callout, which had one of the trucks take off for part of the evening, stopped the team from visiting every street.

And they were not disappointed.

By 9pm, the Salvation Army bus was so heavily laden with donations it could hardly move. Boxes of non-perishable food needed to be divided among volunteers’ cars for transport back to the foodbank.

Supported by The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM, the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal runs until December 23 and aims to collect donations of food and money to help fill the foodbank’s shelves and assist the Salvation Army with its work through the Christmas period and into 2024.

Salvation Army Rotorua corps officer Hana Seddon said the teamwork of the Salvation Army family and volunteer firefighters on the night was a “winning combination” for the foodbank.

“What an incredible turnout there was tonight,” Seddon said.

Seddon said it was clear local residents had “incredible” trust in their fire brigade.

“They’re heroes of the community.” .

A team of Salvation Army and fire brigade volunteers went door to door collecting donations. Photo / Maryana Garcia

“You just saw it in the faces of the children and all the families here running out to the trucks with their cans and all of their food to donate.”

Seddon said 2166 items of food and $76 were donated to the foodbank on Monday night.

“All of that food filled up the van and the cars, and we were able to take it all the way back and [can now] make sure the food ends up in the right place.”

Seddon said the donations were the most she had seen come from the Ngongotahā community.

Ngongotahā Volunteer Fire Brigade senior firefighter Justin Nichols thanked the Salvation Army’s team for their “good work” on the night.

“This is the first time in the eight or nine years I’ve been doing this that we’ve actually done the whole of Ngongotahā, every street,” Nichols said.

Ngongotahā Volunteer Fire Brigade’s can drive raised over $5000 in donations for the Salvation Army foodbank. Photo / Maryana Garcia

“It was fun. As for turnout, everyone was so generous. It was amazing to see people coming to the gate with bags of food. That was really cool.”

Ngongotahā resident Maia Curtis and her family rushed out of their home when they heard the sirens.

“This is what we do every year,” Curtis said.

“It is good to show my daughter the meaning of the Christmas spirit. And she gets to see a fire truck. She’s obsessed with them.”

Ngongotahā resident Jen Stafford and her family were waiting at the end of their driveway with a bag of donations as the fire truck rumbled down the street, lights and sirens on.

Ngongotahā resident Jen Stafford (right) and her family waited at the end of their driveway with a bag of donations. Photo / Maryana Garcia

“It’s a great thing to do, and we just wanted our daughter to experience it and see the fire truck,” Stafford said.

“It’s a great thing for the community to be part of. We love it.”

In 2022, the appeal raised $76,500 worth of donations as the soaring cost of living forced some people out of their homes and pushed others to their financial limits.

This year, the appeal hopes to raise even more, lending a hand to those turning to the foodbank for help, including people with jobs and mortgages struggling to feed their families.