From left, Michelle Senkus from the ANZ Centre - 247 Cameron Rd - hands over 35 boxes full of donations and a cheque for $5000 to foodbank trustee and volunteer Laura Mueller. Photo/Scott Yeoman
From left, Michelle Senkus from the ANZ Centre - 247 Cameron Rd - hands over 35 boxes full of donations and a cheque for $5000 to foodbank trustee and volunteer Laura Mueller. Photo/Scott Yeoman
Thirty-five boxes full of donations and a cheque for $5000 – a massive boost for Tauranga Community Foodbank on the first day of December.
The businesses in the ANZ Centre – 247 Cameron Rd – went above and beyond yesterday and handed over a contribution that is sure to make a difference for people in need this Christmas in Tauranga.
"This is huge, I am amazed at the amount of food – it keeps coming and coming," foodbank trustee and volunteer Laura Mueller said as the boxes were loaded into a van outside.
Collection organiser Michelle Senkus, of Cooney Lees Morgan, said there was some healthy competition among companies in the building this year.
"Everybody feeds off each other and we don't want any other tenant in the building to do better than us, so everybody competes to make sure they've done their bit."
Cooney Lees Morgan also donated $5000 to the foodbank.
"I think all of us don't want to think what it must be like to be hungry at Christmas time, we're all lucky enough to be in a position that we can afford to have something nice for Christmas," Senkus said.
"And we think that everybody else should be able to have that too."
Cooney Lees Morgan partner Scott Goodwin presented a $5000 donation to the Tauranga Community Foodbank. Photo/Scott Yeoman
She said Cooney Lees Morgan started collecting donations for the foodbank years ago when they saw a story in the paper calling for help.
"I personally have a fear of being hungry so it was like, we can do this. The firm is very much about being part of the community so it was just an extension of that," Senkus said.
"We used to do it in our old building and when we moved here, it was like, well, we've got a bigger captive audience here, let's get everybody on board and that wasn't difficult. We gave them all the boxes and said go forth and fill."
With about 400 people working in the building, the donations soon started adding up.
"I'd like to challenge all the other businesses in Tauranga to get on board and fill that bus on the 12th of December," Senkus said.
The businesses in the ANZ Centre - 247 Cameron Rd - handed over 35 boxes full of donations for the Tauranga Community Foodbank. Photo/Scott Yeoman
Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin hoped businesses in the ANZ Centre and their employees realised how grateful the foodbank was for their continued support "and what a difference they are making to others' lives".
"They make it so easy for us, Michelle from Cooney Lees does all the organising and just lets me know when to drop off empty boxes and when to pick up the full boxes – doesn't really get much better than that."
Goodwin said Cooney Lees Morgan had long been a supporter of the foodbank and just seemed to do it better every year.
"From my knowledge, they are kind of the pioneers of organising multiple businesses to get together and form a large collection of food for the foodbank."
