Addressing the growing demand for food support, beating retirement boredom and making life “a little bit easier” for those who are struggling.
These are just some of the reasons why volunteers Peter Norris and Anne regularly give their time to the Tauranga Community Foodbank. They spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times about what drives them and how the service helps people in need.
Norris, 83, has been volunteering twice a week at the Tauranga Community Foodbank for the past eight years.
He said he was one week into retirement when he realised how boring it was and decided he wanted to help out a local charity.
“I thought it was going to be great - watch a bit of TV, read the paper, try to avoid all the jobs my wife had lined up for me. That lasted about a week.”
Norris told the Bay of Plenty Times he had worked in a real range of jobs throughout his life - as a butcher, in hotel maintenance, at a post office and in freezing works.
After retiring he started searching for a “hands-on” role and decided to start volunteering at the foodbank. In his first two years there he started out preparing fruit and vegetables for food parcels and then later moved on to being a delivery driver.
Now he is back where he started in the fruit and vegetable department.
“My first job was taking the old leaves off lettuces, and eight years later I am back here doing the same thing.”
He said he arrived 30 minutes before his shift started every Tuesday and Thursday to unload the dishwasher and make coffee for warehouse manager Jordy Gastmeier. At lunch, he would also take time to carefully prepare a salad for Gastmeier’s vegan dog Xina.
Peter is passionate about getting high-quality produce into food parcels. Photo / Emma Houpt
Making sure fresh produce was “good enough to go out to people” was a crucial part of the foodbank operations, Norris saying he took pride in the food that went out to those in need.
He also felt strongly that everyone should be able to access quality fresh fruit and vegetables.
“I know it takes a little bit longer but I like to be able to prepare it so it’s like something I would use myself. We have stuff coming in that we reject - it’s not fair to give it out to people.”
Asked why he continued volunteering at the foodbank, Norris said he did not know what it was like to not be able to afford food and wanted to help make a difference in his community.
“I have never been in a position these people have. I don’t know what hunger feels like. I feel hope that I am doing a job that is helping somebody and making life a little bit better.”
Anne has been volunteering at Tauranga's foodbank for seven years. Photo / Emma Houpt
Meanwhile, 78-year-old Anne said she ended up volunteering at the foodbank about seven years ago after becoming “very distressed” at the level of need in Tauranga.
“It really upset me. This is what you saw overseas - it’s not what we saw in our streets,” she said.
An experience in England walking with her granddaughter, who was 12 at the time, also brought about a realisation about the importance of helping others.
“We walked past a person sitting on the street begging in her hometown. And she was very, very upset about it. Her reaction made me think we should do at least one small thing to help. Sometimes it’s your grandkids that emphasise these things shouldn’t be happening.”
The Tauranga woman had previously volunteered cooking for homeless people and visiting the homes of lonely and isolated people.
She said she always felt “knackered” after her weekly Thursday shift but loved working alongside the regular team of “amazing people”.
Speaking about changes over the past seven years, Anne said she had noticed a “huge increase in demand” from people facing different financial challenges.
Some were working full-time but could not “make the dollars stretch anymore” and others who were “one bill away from strife”, she said.
Volunteers also used to have to do “tedious” tasks like breaking down big tubs of margarine and peanut butter into smaller containers.
Her advice to those on the fence about volunteering at the foodbank was to “try to make the time”.
“There is nothing like stretching your time to find out you have actually got more than you thought.”
A highlight of volunteering for Anne was meeting “absolutely lovely” customers who were “so grateful and appreciative of what they get”.
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin previously said about 60 volunteers showed up to the foodbank to help out each week.
At the time she said she was in constant awe of those people who volunteered their time every week, “asking for nothing in return”.
“The volunteers are just a daily highlight for me. The absolute reality is we have got three part-time staff, but we could not open our doors to help the community without our volunteers.”
