A fundraising campaign was launched, aiming to sign up 470 people to give $10 per month by October.
In August, it hit 81% of that target.
Gribble has built her career in the not-for-profit sector, with leadership roles at several other organisations, and said she was excited to bring her skills to Whanganui.
“I just think that the Kai Hub has such huge potential and is already making an awesome impact. I think that we can just grow that even more,” Gribble said.
Originally from Hamilton, Gribble has lived in Wellington for the past 16 years.
Prior to her position at the Kai Hub, she worked as a manager at Newton Community Centre (Te Whare Hapori o Ngā Puna Waiora) in Wellington.
There she led initiatives across their many community programmes and managed multiple venues, nine employees and more than 90 volunteers.
Gribble said she jumped at the opportunity to become part of the Kai Hub organisation after watching it grow over the past few years.
Kai Hub collaborates with other local organisations to save surplus food that would otherwise be discarded and redistribute it across the community to those in need.
The organisation provides the equivalent of 2600 meals a week, which is enough to feed 400 people one meal a day.
“There are so many incredible charities out there doing such incredible work and the landscape’s just gotten tougher [to secure funding],” Gribble said.
Part of her role will be securing funding for the Kai Hub.
She also has plans for the organisation to expand into educational community workshops, and use the dining room and kitchen facilities for more activities.
“I just want to thank the community for really rallying behind the Kai Hub and believing in what we do and supporting us,” Gribble said.
“It’s enabled us to keep our doors open and to keep rescuing food and getting it to hungry people through our wonderful partners”.
Gribble said many of her friends and whānau live in the Whanganui area and she was excited to enjoy the arts and music scene.
