Nor'West News: September 24, 2020

16 Thursday September 24 2020
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NOR’WEST NEWS
News
Christchurch
STORES
Foodbank adapts to
meet pandemic demands
Myriad groups help keep our
community moving. Reporter Bea
Gooding speaks to Foodbank
Canterbury co-founders John and
Janice Milligan about how the charity
has adapted to support vulnerable
Cantabrians
SURGE: Cofounder
and
general manager
Janice Milligan,
of Foodbank
Canterbury,
where demand
has increased
106 per cent
since the
beginning of this
year.
Downsizing? Decluttering?
Please help support local St John activities
by donating good quality pre-loved clothing,
jewellery, homeware, furniture and books to
one of your local St John Christchurch stores.
We welcome donations dropped of at either:
272 Lincoln Road, Addington or 180 Durham Street South, City
or please call 027 304 7821 to book a donation collection.
Could you tell me a bit
about what Foodbank
Canterbury does?
Foodbank Canterbury is a
secular, independent non-faith
based, non-politically aligned,
non-activist controlled food
rescue organisation with a
singular mission in mind – to
fight hunger, feed hope and
reduce food waste.
Under “normal” times, FBC
rescues two tonnes of food per
day which resources over 5800
meals daily for the vulnerable
and at-risk in the Canterbury,
South Canterbury and West
Coast regions.
We are a 100 per cent not-forprofit
organisation dealing with
over 135 agencies throughout
Christchurch alone – everyone
from The City Mission, St
Vinnies, the maraes and other
iwi organisations, Pasifika
groups, Women’s Refuges,
Community Centres and food
pantries, school districts etc.
What kind of impact does
your charity have on the
environment and vulnerable
Cantabrians?
Collecting and distributing
nearly 1.8 million meals worth
of food each year through a
network of partner programs
gives us a stark understanding
of the everyday realities of food
insecurity.
On a per-volume basis,
FBC is the largest food relief
organisation in the South
Island, operating on a scale that
makes it crucial to the work
of the front-line charities who
are feeding vulnerable New
Zealanders.
FBC provides more than 70
per cent of the food rescued for
food relief organisations South
Island-wide.
Our volunteers are vital
to our success and have
contributed some 65,000 hours
of their time in the last twelve
months. To us, that’s worth
over $1.6 million.
Foodbank represents
a ‘triple-win’ for our
communities – reducing food
wastage and protecting the
environment; providing food
relief to hungry and vulnerable
people; and strengthening our
society through collaboration
with local charities and
volunteerism.
What issues are the charity
currently facing in the wake of
Covid-19?
In the current Covid-19
situation, we are processing
and redistributing just on
100 tonnes of food product
monthly – resourcing around
9,000 meals per day. That is an
increase of 106 per cent since
the beginning of 2020.
We are under no illusions
about the challenge we are
embracing. The current
pandemic situation has made
us at FBC realise this even
more. Feeding the hungry is
paramount. We are feeding
people who have never put
their hand up in need before,
and the scary thing is that we
do not know where we are
going. There is no template.
In spite of our suppliers – the
supermarkets, manufacturers,
distributors, growers and
farmers being very supportive,
FBC is still having to raise
funding to buy-in staple food
products to supplement what
we distribute.
We are also concerned that
our rural areas are not being
served and we plan to resolve
this as soon as funding is
available.
We have seen over the
past months, an explosion of
altruism and co-operation.
Now we need to move
forward in not just a spirit of
collaboration, but in a realistic
act of collaboration to simply
achieve.
At FBC our byline is “fighting
hunger – feeding Hope.”
It is this hope that impels us
to act.
How has the charity adapted
to these changes caused by the
pandemic?
In order to fill the gaps
in demand left by the more
tradition food pantries serving
individuals, FBC is introducing
the Hunger Action Team
programme in NZ.
By introducing HATs
Foodbank Aotearoa New
Zealand/Canterbury, it changes
what it means to be a food
bank. This is an innovation
driven by the current
environment.
HATs are groups of
individuals and organisations
working in collaboration to
solve hunger in a designated
community. They are coalitions
that bring people from across a
community together to develop
local solutions to hunger,
supplying 10 day, two-week
family packages of nutritious
food to vulnerable whanau.
Starting in Christchurch
with initial collaboration
with FBC, He Waka Tapu and
Rotary International, HATs
will be working in towns
and neighbourhoods across
the region – leveraging local
resources and relationships to
raise awareness about hunger,
connect services to make it
easier for people to get help,
and launch new initiatives that
strengthen each community’s
capacity to meet local needs.
• Recycled junk, page 18