The Hokonui Marae in Gore has been a satellite branch of KiwiHarvest for about a year, and as demand grows the operation is working hard to make sure it can cater for all needs.
Each year KiwiHarvest rescues 227,000kg of good food in Southland from over 34 supermarkets, cafes, food manufacturers and growers — equivalent to 306,450 meals.
In the Gore and Mataura districts, KiwiHarvest supplies food to nine charitable agencies on a weekly basis, supplying over 35,500kg of food each year, which translates to 47,925 meals.
Additionally, KiwiHarvest also supports local animal rescue charities by providing much needed pet food and resources.
The service at the Te Whanau O Hokonui Marae collects food donations daily from local donors, Monday to Friday.
Te Iho Awhi Rito Social Services kaiwhakahaere (manager) Kelly Takurua said the service had originated from when Covid-19 hit in 2020.
One of the KiwiHarvest organisers got in touch with the Queenstown branch of KiwiHarvest to get some food for Gore people who were struggling during lockdown.
It grew into Southland from there and about a year ago KiwiHarvest sprang up at the marae.
She said KiwiHarvest worked with Woolworths supermarket in Gore to take food which it could no longer sell, much of it reaching expiry date.
Additional food comes from the KiwiHarvest branch in Invercargill.
She said the numbers had grown over the past year, through word of mouth and also as people found it tough to buy food as family budgets came under pressure.
They saw 45-50 families, she said.
Those who came to get food were from varied backgrounds ranging from fairly young people and families to older people.
The food available changed depending on what the supermarket had to give but it was sometimes a bonus when meat became available for families.
‘‘People are really happy to get the food and are so thankful.
‘‘With the cost of heating during winter, petrol, housing, accommodation, insurance all going up, the first thing that people let go is food.
‘‘So if we can contribute something then that really helps.’’
She said the service was doing an amazing job and it and other organisations were keeping people fed.
‘‘It would be mind-blowing if we lost that access to food.’’
