Sisters Ariya Beuker, 9, and Taya Beuker, 10, are helping Emily Johnson pack this year's Christmas kai boxes. Photo / Tania Whyte
Sisters Ariya Beuker, 9, and Taya Beuker, 10, are helping Emily Johnson pack this year's Christmas kai boxes. Photo / Tania Whyte
It’s the most exciting time of the year for many families, but for others, the cost associated with Christmas creates an added stress.
A local mother-of-two has been gifting boxes of food to families in need across Whangārei since 2019, and is at it this year again with the help of the local community.
The idea of Christmas Kai Box came to Emily Johnson in 2019, when she witnessed another family struggle to put food on the table for Christmas.
Since then, Johnson and her crew of helpful friends and family have been determined to ensure as many people as possible have food in their bellies for the festive season, reaching out to local businesses, organisations and groups to gift what they can.
“The first year was just myself and my husband contributing. And then we opened it up on my personal Facebook page for people who were willing to help families. Then, we ended up setting up the Facebook page and just asking people who wanted to donate to donate, and it’s just grown every year.”
In 2019, the crew helped 33 families, in 2020 they helped 23 families, and that nearly doubled in 2021, with 41 families receiving boxes.
“It was never supposed to be this big,” she laughed, “Obviously, there’s foodbanks out there [that] do an amazing job. But we just try to be that point of difference. We’re not basic essentials to get you through the weekends, we’re more treating people at this time of year [to things] that they don’t normally get.”
The carefully wrapped and beautifully selected boxes are filled to the brim with a mixture of Christmas goodies and practical items, including shampoo, razors, cleaning products and baby wipes.
The carefully assorted Christmas kai boxes will be a welcome relief to families in Whangārei. Photo / Tania Whyte
“It may only last a week, but it’s taking that pressure off financially for that week to get them through,” said Johnson.
It is a community effort, with the wider Whangārei community providing what they can, from local gyms and schools to real estate groups and kindergartens.
Johnson has also been gifted with vouchers for fuel so the boxes can be delivered in time for Christmas, and Hirepool have allowed them to utilise tables for packing the boxes.
She called the amount of donations and community effort “heartwarming.”
(From left): Sisters Taya and Ariya, founder Emily with her daughter, Nillah, friends Alys Koia, Sarah Beney and her daughter, Lucy. Photo / Tania Whyte
“It’s such a wide variety of those who are needing help,” she said, “I think Covid has had a massive impact on who is struggling.”
She said Christmas Kai Box are aiming to target families who aren’t receiving help, but need it.
She called the impact of inflation “absurd.”
“I don’t really have any words for that. It’s so hard for so many people, and so many more people [since Covid]. I don’t really know how it can be fixed, or what can be done, I really don’t know. I mean, a box of cereal now, it’s like $9.”
Northland’s low-income households have been struggling with rising food prices in recent months, with supermarket supply costs rising over 10 per cent in a year, and the cost of fresh produce up 20 per cent.
The latest food price index from Statistics New Zealand showed that food prices have increased 10.7 per cent in the year ended November 2022.
The Christmas Kai Box crew are aiming to deliver the boxes on Thursday, surprising families who have been nominated through the Christmas Kai Box Facebook page. They have helpers on hand for Thursday who are supplying trailers and helping with deliveries.
“The amount of helpers we’ve got on hand [is] incredible, and my husband’s amazing. If I didn’t have those guys, it wouldn’t happen.”
She said she plans to “definitely still keep going” and that they’d do it for “as long as we can, and as long as it’s still needed”.
Johnson said the best part of what they do is seeing the families’ reactions.
“A little boy burst into tears because he was able to feed his reindeer a carrot. Oh my gosh, I lost it. I was just beside myself. He was like... ‘Mum, we can feed Rudolf!’”
She said “that feeling” makes the busy time worth it.
