Salvation Army's Northland food bank bolstered by much-needed food cans

Resene Colorshop manager in Whangārei Nunnah Munday, right, with Salvation Army staff during an earlier appeal. Photo / John Stone

Customers of a paint outlet have donated nearly 2000 cans of food to bolster the Salvation Army's food banks in Northland during a nationwide appeal.

The Hunger for Colour Appeal saw cans swapped in store at Resene outlets for test pots, raising 275,000 cans of food throughout New Zealand.

Whangārei Resene collected 1283 cans while Kerikeri Resene managed 608 last month.

"Our food banks are often depleted at the start of the year, when many people rely on them to put food on the table after meeting the extra expenses a new school year brings," Salvation Army territorial director of community ministries Jono Bell said.

The appeal started as a result of the Canterbury earthquakes, when Resene collected cans for those affected by the emergency.

"The success of the campaign shows the enthusiasm New Zealanders have for helping others struggling to put food on their table, and for colour and DIY projects," Resene marketing manager Karen Warman said.

The month-long campaign has helped restock shelves of Salvation Army food banks around the country. In seven years, the campaign has collected more than 275,000 cans of food to support struggling New Zealanders.

"With winter just around the corner and our centres starting to run low on stock they really appreciate Hunger for Colour. It's a relief for them to know that generous people in their communities always get behind this campaign. This support makes a huge difference in their planning for the extra people who rely on us for help over winter," Bell said.

"Pretty much everywhere we have a food bank, there's a Resene ColorShop so it's an incredibly important annual fundraiser for us. We're really grateful to Resene for the past seven years of support and their commitment to running the campaign again."

The cans will give a timely boost to Salvation Army food banks, restocking shelves after the busy Christmas and back to school period, he said.

Last year 130,000 food parcels were distributed nationally by The Salvation Army – more than double the number in 2019.

Salvation Army delivers between 350 and 400 food parcels a week throughout Northland and the bulk of it is in the mid north.