Christmas is a busy time of year for the Napier Community Foodbank
In an average week, the service provides around 25 emergency food parcels to local families and individuals, with this number more than tripling in the week leading up to Christmas.
The service works closely with 35-40 local health and welfare services to identify clients who are in need of emergency food relief. In the past financial year, the service has supplied packages containing four days’ worth of basic food and hygiene products to 1815 adults and 2709 children throughout the Napier area.
Established in 1988 to meet the growing need in the community, the Foodbank operates with two part-time staff and an amazing team of volunteers, who pack the parcels and make food donation collection runs. Many of the volunteers have been with the service for five, ten and twenty plus years.
A Hawke’s Bay Foundation grant of $5670 in September 2018 will help cover basic administration and running costs for the year. Foodbank Manager, Maggie Ronchi says they would not be able to operate without the grants they have received from Hawke’s Bay Foundation over the years.
“While we live in a very supportive community and receive wonderful donations of food and finances into our grocery account, funds are still required to pay staff and cover overheads thereby maintaining a professional and well organised community service,” says Maggie.
“We value being able to apply for funding from funders within our local community and very much see us all as working together to enhance the well-being of the Napier and wider community – community helping community. We are very grateful for the straightforward means of applying for funding through HBF and their continuing support and like to promote HBF at every opportunity not only as a funding service, but as an investment into the Hawke’s Bay community.”