They delivered 480 community parcels last year and organised a further 637 Covid parcels, for a total of 1117 parcels into homes in and around Te Awamutu.
Rita says referrals for their services come from a variety of sources, including churches, Kāinga Aroha Community House and the Ministry of Social Development, and people can self-refer.
“We work closely with Kāinga Aroha, which provides budgeting and other social services,” she says.
Covid assistance receives MSD funding. Te Awamutu Foodbank processes the aid and used to provide the packing and delivery service, which was a further drain on their manpower.
Rita is grateful to the team at Fresh Choice, as they have taken over the packing and delivery of the Covid parcels.
“We think they do a great job and are thankful they have taken the strain off the foodbank team.”
Even with that help Rita can only see demand increasing.
“We exist to help families keep food on the table, but we can’t do it on our own, it takes the support of a community,” says Rita.
Donations of food come from Te Awamutu church congregations and directly from Fresh Choice and Countdown supermarket.
“We also dip into our foodbank funds and shop to keep grocery stocks up,” says Rita.
That shopping costs $1000-$1500 per month.
“During the year we dug into foodbank funds and the bank account is getting low,” says Rita.
“The money was fundraised for other projects so we need to replace it and top up the account to look after future demand.”
And despite all these efforts, demand means the food store is also low on stock and shelves are relatively empty.
“Rising food prices means the shopping doesn’t go as far as it used to and people are also feeling the pinch and donating less cash and grocery items.”
And that isn’t the only shortage.
It takes a good-sized team to fulfil all the foodbank roles.
Rita says many of the volunteers are older people who are running out of puff, some have their own health issues to deal with and some just need to slow down or take a break.
She is keen to put a larger team together that spreads the load and means there are trained volunteers to step in when backup is needed.
The main roles are for delivery people, who usually work in pairs for 2-3 hours one day per week, and quartermasters to look after the stores, bag bulk supplies and sort donations.
Volunteers also go to the supermarkets to pick up donations.
Rita says hopefully a good team will mean there is also time and energy to undertake fundraising and keep the bank account healthy.
People can also help by donating grocery items, which can be delivered to the Kāinga Aroha office on Bank St between 9am and 5pm weekdays, or by donating money.
If you would like to volunteer or find out more about foodbank, contact Rita, odamnemail@gmail.com or 027 243 5815.
Donate money directly to Te Awamutu Combined Churches Foodbank, Westpac, 03-1564-0023878-00
