Last day before Christmas to drop off donations at Tauranga Community Foodbank

The past few days and weeks have been a blur of activity for Robbie McGruer, the Tauranga Community Foodbank's longest-serving volunteer. Photo / John Borren

Today is the last day you can drop off food and grocery donations at the Tauranga Community Foodbank before Christmas.

So come on, Tauranga, chuck a couple of items in the car and head on down.

The foodbank closes at 2pm after a year of hard work.

"Well, what can I say except – wow, what an amazing Christmas Appeal we have had. But it's not over yet," foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said yesterday.

"We are open until 2pm tomorrow so please continue to bring in your donations because they are important and really do make a difference."

Goodwin said after closing time today, foodbank donations can still be made at the four libraries in Tauranga and at the Bay of Plenty Times office on Cameron Rd today and during office hours from December 27.

The foodbank is open again on January 3.

Meanwhile, the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal total now stands at $118,868.10 raised.

In just under six weeks, there have been 29,291 food items (valued at $2 each) and $60,286.10 cash donated.

Yesterday, the foodbank's dedicated team of volunteers and staff were still busy making up parcels, counting and storing food and grocery items, and greeting and helping visiting families in need.

In the office, the phones were either in use or ringing.

Robbie McGruer, the longest-serving volunteer at the foodbank, was there. He always is.

McGruer started when the foodbank first opened. The 64-year-old has been helping for 28 years and goes in whenever there is the kiwifruit season is not on.

In the busy weeks leading up to Christmas, he is at the foodbank every day.

Why?

"Oh, I just like helping them. I just like the company and that," McGruer said.

He said he meets a lot of people and hears a lot of stories and it is rewarding work.

"It's good. Yesterday was just bedlam. I think today will be bedlam too, and tomorrow."

McGruer said he has seen an increased need for the foodbank over the years and puts it down to "rates and power and all that going up".

"It's got busier," he said.

This year has been especially demanding.

The 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.

There were 5459 food parcels issued in those 12 months, 15 per cent more than the same period last year.

And it has only got busier over the past couple of months.

The foodbank may be closing for a few days but the Christmas Appeal – and the need for donations in Tauranga – is still very much alive.

On January 3, rested and refreshed, the foodbank will start again and will hopefully begin 2018 with enough food and groceries to sustain the important work they are doing in our city.