The initiative is the first online donation platform in Aotearoa New Zealand where people can buy food items that are donated to Salvation Army food banks.
The Salvation Army tumuaki community ministries manager Cathy Strong said
Te Mākona foodbank kaupapa put the power back into people’s hands, gave them the choice of what foods they wanted and gave donors options of what items they wanted to give.
"We were pushed to be creative with how people donate to us so we recently activated the Invercargill Foodbank QR code which is working well."
The Salvation Army corps officer and director community ministries Major Murray Sanson said the new demographic using the Invercargill foodbank was the "working poor" and this was now a reality for Southlanders.
"We are seeing more and more households that have two people working and still need to get food parcels to feed their families," Mr Sanson said.
"We are hoping that this food project will strengthen food security for both whānau and communities."
The Invercargill Foodbank encouraged users to visit the centre for support and to also use other services such as budgeting advice.
"Along with the kai, we want to provide learning for our whānau on how to budget, how to use the skills and gifts they already have so they can thrive.
"It’s having that ‘teach a man to fish’ mentality.
"We do not want them to just pick up food parcels which will just get them through the hard times," Ms Strong said.
People were encouraged to take part in free workshops on offer "so they’ll gain knowledge that will lead to them becoming stronger, independent and a community that has a better future", she said.
