Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns yesterday presented a $6000 donation cheque to the chair of the Tauranga Community Foodbank board, Sharon Hitchcock.
One thousand cans of sweetcorn, 6500 eggs, 3300 sausages, two tonnes of potatoes and 131kg of milk powder.
That is what $6000 will buy for the Tauranga Community Foodbank thanks to the Port of Tauranga, which handed over a cheque for that amount yesterday.
Chief executive Mark Cairns said the port used to spend a lot of money on corporate gifts at Christmas time for its clients but now donated that money to charity.
As well as the $6000 cheque, staff at the port would also be donating food items to the foodbank again and those would be dropped off in the last week before Christmas.
"It's a tough time of the year for a lot of people and this is a really needy service for our community," Cairns said.
"When you spend some time down here and see all the volunteers working and the people that need the food ... you will see it is such a worthwhile cause."
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns yesterday presented a $6000 donation cheque to the chair of the Tauranga Community Foodbank board, Sharon Hitchcock. Photo/George Novak
Sharon Hitchcock, chairwoman of the Tauranga Community Foodbank board, said the port's "very generous" donation would be a big help in the lead-up to the holiday season.
"Contributions like this make such a difference to the foodbank, especially over Christmas. We have a lot of food that we have to buy in that we do give out. Even though we've got a very generous community bringing in food, there is a lot of other items we buy.
"So it makes such a difference having great sponsorship like this and it's ongoing which is fantastic."
Hitchcock said businesses in Tauranga can see the foodbank use the donations for a good purpose and so were happy to continue to donate.
"The community are the winners, they're the ones that benefit from our wonderful contributors."
