Kāpiti foodbank welcomes donation in time for Christmas

Bron Dutton and Trish Robbie from Kapiti Baby and Child Show with daughter Ruby and Kapiti Community Foodbank chairwoman Kim Lancaster. Photo / Rosalie Willis

How much do you spend on food in the days leading up to Christmas?

Do you plan your menu out days beforehand, making Christmas cakes, sweets and order a ham from the butchers or do you go classic Kiwi style and chuck meat on the barbecue with a pavlova for dessert?

For some it's an exciting time of year to test your cooking skills and go all out, but spare a thought for those who don't have quite the same options.

The Kapiti Community Foodbank provides for those who are out of options.

"Over the last financial year the Kapiti Community Foodbank has given away 2227 food parcels feeding 7735 hungry mouths for three days each," said food bank chairwoman Kim Lancaster.

Relying solely on donations, the majority of the food on their shelves come from two big fundraisers — one from the Rotary in May and the Lions yellow bag collection appeal in November topped up throughout the year by donations from dropbanks in supermarkets and individual donations.

Kindergartens, schools and small businesses opting to give to the food bank instead of giving staff Christmas bonuses are a few of the groups to have visited in the lead up to Christmas.

Trish Robbie and Bron Dutton, organisers of the Kapiti Baby and Child Show, decided this year to give their door donations from the show to the food bank.

When Kāpiti News went to visit the food bank last week 13 parcels had already been given out after being open for an hour.

Presenting the money they had raised from the show, Trish said, "When we started the Kapiti Baby and Child Show we wanted the money to go back to the community.

"This year we chose the Kapiti Community Foodbank as our main charity and we are really pleased to say that we are donating $1000 to them in time for Christmas.

"Any time of year is a good donation but I'm sure that it will be really helpful at this time of year."

The show was held in October and by the time everything had been sorted out the donation has been made just in time for it to be used for Christmas parcels.

"It was just perfect timing in time for Christmas."