“We got $87k government funding and that’s nowhere near enough. The corporate support is also slowing up.
“Grant funders are now receiving hundreds of applications for 40 grants every month.”
Letele said he had “zero” funding for his staff wages or building lease.
“I had a number of staff but now we only have two fulltime in the food share and relocated others across the organisation, like to the cafe we have opened,” he said.
“I don’t want to lose anyone so I’m looking at where people can go.”
Letele said at its height, the foodbank was catering for 700-1000 families a week.
“We are now down to between 150-200 families a week, which includes schools and a community group we support,” he said.
“If anyone turns up on our doorstep we never turn them away because we supply everything from meat to veges plus all the other essentials whānau need.”
Letele said he would be eternally grateful to the likes of Foodstuffs, NZ Food Network, Fonterra and Sanitarium, Bidfood and others.
“But it’s not enough to keep it all going,” Letele said.
“It would take about $1m to run it successfully and when I think about the pressure of me having to raise that type of cash, it gets to me mentally.
“It’s an incredibly hard decision but if I don’t make this decision now, it could pull down my entire organisation. I remain focused on our hand-up model of health, education and empowerment programmes.”
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