Bank donates a new food truck to Hawke's Bay

Frank Spencer, director at SBS Bank from Hawke's Bay; John Ward, SBS Bank chairman; Deborah Manning, CEO, KiwiHarvest; Nikki Gardner, co-ordinator, Hawke's Bay branch of KiwiHarvest. Photo / Supplied

A NZ bank has made a deposit of its own into Hawke's Bay by providing a new food truck that will help local charities spend more money doing vital community work.

SBS Bank chairman John Ward yesterday said he was pleased to announce the bank's partnership with KiwiHarvest in the Hawke's Bay region.

KiwiHarvest delivers a broad range of nutritious fresh foods to local charities in its chilled food trucks by rescuing surplus food from supermarkets, markets, farmers, wholesalers and prepared meals from catered events and cafes. For local charities, it means that they can re-direct vital funding into education, rehabilitation and other programmes.

Founded in Dunedin in 2012 it now delivers over 60,000kgs of food to 220 charities
nationally, every month and has now added Hawke's Bay to the list thanks to the agreement with SBS.

Ward said SBS Bank was delighted to be providing KiwiHarvest with a much-needed chilled food truck for the region.

Kiwi Harvest chief executive Deborah Manning said she was grateful for the support.

"Access to nourishing food improves physical and mental health and well-being. It empowers people by contributing to their self-confidence, contributes to improved livelihoods and ultimately creates stronger communities.

"Having a chilled food truck means we can safely collect and deliver large quantities of food, including pallets, which allows us to work with local community organisations and nourish more people in need - they are true community champions."