Rotorua Christmas Appeal: Thousands of dollars of food, money donated in first week

Thousands of dollars worth of food and money has been donated to the Rotorua Salvation Army Foodbank in its first week of the 2024 Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal.

The six-week appeal, supported by The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM, launched on November 9.

The annual event aims to collect donations of food and money to help fill the foodbank’s shelves, assisting the Salvation Army’s work through the Christmas period and into next year. The foodbank values items collected during the appeal at $2.50 each.

As of November 15, the foodbank had collected $5560 in donated food, money, and gifts. This breaks down to $1730 worth of food items, $110 worth of gifts, and $3720 in cash donations.

In a statement, Salvation Army Rotorua community ministries manager Darnielle Hoods said the charity was “really happy” with the donations received so far.

“Especially with what has been happening within our town with many tangihanga including the recent loss of Sir Robert Gillies or Koro Bom as he was known to many of us.

“We are hopeful things will pick up, but are always grateful for all that we receive from the community.”

Hoods said this time last year, the charity had received $18,100, including $10,000 from the Rotorua Trust, which was “due to come in any day now”.

The last official donation day is on December 24, Hoods said.

The 2023 Christmas Appeal raised a record $94,409.30 for the foodbank.

Hoods has previously told the Rotorua Daily Post they hoped to break their record again this year.

She said Rotorua had shown over the years it was a generous city and even when people did not have much to give, they gave what they could.

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.