Christmas Appeal 2017: The foodbank's happy horde of helpers

Jason Te Pohe and Sian Rutledge helping out at the Tauranga Community Foodbank. Photo/Andrew Warner

With Christmas just 28 days away now, the Tauranga Community Foodbank is a hive of activity.

Food and cash donations continue to pour in every day and, thanks to a legion of volunteers and a happy horde of helpers, contributions are promptly finding their way to the individuals and families that need them the most.

When the Bay of Plenty Times visited the foodbank, it found a diverse community hard at work.

Among them were students from a Tauranga Special School transition class, who were packaging flour into small bags.

The students were aged between 17 and 21 and their time spent helping out at the foodbank also served as work experience.

Jason Te Pohe, 20, said he enjoyed coming into the foodbank once a week.

He said the people he met there were "really friendly and really nice" and it made him "happy" to be able to help.

A smiling Te Pohe was 100 per cent focused on his task and did not stop for a second while talking with the Bay of Plenty Times. He was clearly taking pleasure from his work.

Teacher aide Sian Rutledge said the students had been coming to the foodbank all year and had all benefited from it.

It gave the transition class a chance to test their communication and work skills, she said.

"And it is a good cause, isn't it? These guys do a wonderful job and we love coming down here and helping and doing what we can to help and support people that need it."

There are usually three or four students helping out at a time and they sometimes put in a few extra hours or days a week during the busy periods.

They bag up different foods and sort out the donations that arrive during appeals.

"Anything that they need really. They just tell us what to do and point us in the right direction," Rutledge said.

"We love supporting and helping a great cause and helping people that are less fortunate than ourselves."

Around Christmas time that is needed more than ever.

So far nearly $16,000 has been raised in the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal - a brilliant start.

However, there is still a lot of work to do. Last year a total of about $130,500 was raised.

A big boost will come in December thanks to the business challenge.

This year, companies are being encouraged to collect as many non-perishable food items for the foodbank as possible.

On December 12 the Bay of Plenty Times and The Hits radio station host Will Johnston will be travelling around Tauranga in a Bayhopper bus visiting the competing businesses to collect the donations.

The "Fill the Bus" competition will be covered live on the day and there is a $500 food and beverage voucher from CBK - Craft Bar and Kitchen to award.

Every donation helps, so if you or your workplace want to contribute, send an email to scott.yeoman@bayofplentytimes.co.nz.

The facts
- The Tauranga Community Foodbank helped feed 16,429 people in the 12 months ended October 2017.
- Of those people, 9362 were under the age of 18 and 7067 were over 18.
- The foodbank issued 5459 food parcels in those 12 months - 15 per cent more than the same period last year.
- More than $566,000 has been raised since the annual Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal started in 2011.