Pātaka kai to feed the hungry in Kaikohe

Kaikohe East School pupils, from left, Angel Holt, 11, Anahera Peri, 11, and Te Mana Haa Mason, 10, check out the new pataka kai at Kaikohe Library. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Kaikohe residents who find their cupboards bare now have somewhere to go for help – and people whose gardens produce more than they can eat have somewhere to donate their surplus.

Pātaka Kai o Kaikohekohe was officially opened in the foyer of Kaikohe Library, on Marino Court, by deputy mayor Tania McInnes and the kids of Kaikohe East School last Monday.The idea is that people can donate fresh produce, healthy non-perishable food or other basic needs for others to take if they have run out of food.

Nine-year-old Shelby Hori-Broomfield, seen here with Deputy Mayor Tania McInnes, cuts the ribbon for the new pataka kai at Kaikohe Library. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A sign urges people to "take a little if your cupboard is bare, or give a little if you have food to spare".

It was blessed by council kaumatua Ted Wihongi, who remembered how every family in Kaikohe had a thriving vegetable garden in the 1950s, and how Kaikohe was considered a food basket long before that because of its good soil and lake teeming with eels.

The project was led by Kaikohe woman Lee Mason, who is also part of a team which organises a free community breakfast every Christmas.

The pātaka kai would help tend to physical and spiritual needs in Kaikohe, she said.
She was grateful to local businesses which had donated the shelves and food, and to Kaikohe Library for allowing the pātaka kai in their foyer where it would be safe.

''The response has been awesome. People really want to be able to help,'' Mason said.

She hoped it encourage others to set up similar initiatives in their streets.

After the pātaka kai opening Kaikohe East students, including Jayden Tango, 10, were given citrus trees to plant at school. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Recent months have seen an explosion in pātaka kai, also called street pantries or community food stands, around Northland. Some have been set up by individuals, others by community groups.

In the Far North similar initiatives have started in Kawakawa, Kaitaia, Kerikeri and Rawene to name a few, with another about to open in Waimate North.

Pātaka is the Māori name for a traditional food storehouse.