The woman's shopping trolley is filled with items such as milk, cereal and baking ingredients. Photo / Mead Norton
The woman's shopping trolley is filled with items such as milk, cereal and baking ingredients. Photo / Mead Norton
A new store opened by Tauranga Community Foodbank will give clients “more control” and freedom to choose groceries.
The store, located inside its Fraser St warehouse, opened on Monday as the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal entered its second week. The appeal runs for six weeks to raise food and money for the foodbank in the lead-up to Christmas.
More than 4500 people are expected to use the service over the next year, with food items priced using a points system and clients given a limit on the number of points per shop.
One of the first shoppers to use the store, who the Bay of Plenty Times agreed not to name for privacy reasons, was a mum of four aged in her 30s.
The woman had been receiving ongoing support since February and described her experience inside the store as “really good”.
She said it was “awesome to get that freedom of choosing what you want” and anticipated all the food she took home would be eaten by her four children.
“Usually, you just get given stuff that just gets stored and you don’t know what to do with it. This has been really good.”
This week she had stocked up on pasta, rice and cereal – foods that could be “spread out” throughout the week.
“Me and my family in our budget situation we are in a deficit of so much that this is what we rely on week to week.”
Going to foodbank was always a “highlight” as she loved seeing the smiles on her children’s faces as they unloaded the boxes.
Support provided her family “stability” of being able to feed her children, saying “it helps our family so much from poverty”.
“You are not panicking for your kids about what they are going to eat. I pretty much live off what I get from here.”
“It has helped me out tremendously - because a lot of families out there can’t afford a weekly shop at a normal supermarket. This just like put us at ease.”
She “greatly appreciated” those who donated to the foodbank, however it could be “hard to express that appreciation because we feel guilty of taking from people”.
“I feel it all the time, but I am like I need to feed my family too.”
The family previously lived in Rotorua but left after facing domestic violence, moving into emergency housing in Tauranga. She then shifted to transitional housing in a different suburb but her children had already started attending school in Tauranga.
“We had to get out of Rotorua so we got located in a town we have never been to before. It was all new and strange, having no income and no family support.
“I never thought I would end up in this situation from earning quite a lot of income myself to being put into a tricky situation where we are now like in poverty. Just struggling to get by - and you can’t sort of dig yourself out of it”
Speaking about living costs, she said at the moment paying for food and fuel was “so pricey” - it was a struggle to get her children to school some days.
“You get a paycheck and it’s gone that same day. And like with big families you can’t buy it all,” she said.
“You will be happy for two days and then starving the next.”
She said most of her money went on gas to get her kids to school in Tauranga.
“I barely get by to get my kids to school.”
She often spent the day in town rather than driving back home, helping cut fuel costs.
Her children moving schools was not an option as they were waiting to be moved to permanent housing back in Tauranga.
“I have already gone through a huge change. I don’t want it to keep changing and changing.
“At the end of the day, it sort of effs up their life as well and their life choices when they get older - because they are going to think it’s normal to be bouncing around. And you don’t want that - you want high achievement for your kids.”
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin inside the new store. Photo / Mead Norton
Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said the store had been in the works for a “long time” and was excited the idea had finally come to life.
She realised the importance of it after seeing a similar service open through Wellington City Mission but the idea was put on hold through its Covid response.
“The vision is to have a space for people who are needing regular grocery assistance. They can come in and choose what they need that week for themselves and their families.
“It was something we needed to add to our service years ago.”
At this stage, the service was only available to regular clients referred through Bay Financial Mentors - formerly known as Tauranga Budget Advisory.
She estimated it would be used by 25 per cent of their clients - around 4500 people - over the next year. Many of these clients were “working their way through a financial crisis,” she said.
“The service where we pre-prepare people’s groceries will remain - that’s for one-off or sudden emergencies.”
Food items were priced using a “points” system, with clients being given a certain number of points per shop. However fresh produce and sanitary items were not included in this system and clients could take as much as they needed.
Staple items available in-store included non-perishable goods, meat, bread, eggs, fruit and vegetables, cleaning products and personal care items.
Goodwin hoped the new store would give clients a sense of normalcy while shopping and more control over top-up items they were running low on.
“It’s giving them more control over what they actually need in their cupboards. They know what points they have got to spend, and they can choose what they need to get through the week.”
“It may mean they won’t have to access our service as often because they will be able to choose what they need rather than it being pre-determined.”
The store was open from 9am until 2pm every weekday, however, clients needed to book a 30-minute appointment to use it.
Shoppers would not be sharing the space with anyone else and could bring along children or a support person.
Around $14,000 had been spent by the foodbank to build and kit out the space which was under their initial budget. The generosity of businesses and funders donating goods and time saved them about $10,000, Goodwin said.
