Auckland City Mission was one of the 12 days of Christmas grant recipients from Auckland Airport, the grant helped with additional items of meat, poultry, and protein in the Christmas food parcels. Photo / Greg Bowker
Auckland City Mission was one of the 12 days of Christmas grant recipients from Auckland Airport, the grant helped with additional items of meat, poultry, and protein in the Christmas food parcels. Photo / Greg Bowker
The Herald is profiling 12 charities awarded $10,000 each from Auckland Airport’s Twelve Days of Christmas community giving tradition. Each grant is thanks to generous travellers who placed unwanted currency into moneyboxes dotted around the terminals in 2024.
Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai’s volunteer army is in full force as it gears up to deliver one of its biggest projects of the year – the Christmas service.
This year it’s distributing a bumper food box to families in need to help them put meals on the table over the Christmas period.
“The cost of living is astronomical at the moment and it’s difficult for many to make ends meet,” says the Mission’s general manager of food security Tara Moala.
“The first thing that comes off a needs list for whānau is food. They make sure rent, power, and water are paid and if they don’t have enough for food they don’t buy or buy the bare minimum,” she says.
The Auckland City Mission experiences a spike in need at this time of year and has been busy preparing over 7000 boxes of food this December.
The boxes provide pantry staples and substantial meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with some festive food for Christmas Day. More than 30,000 gifts will be offered so children have presents to open as well.
“We expect the food will last for eight days over the Christmas season, which is fantastic with so many social services closing down for the Christmas period, so we need to make sure people are fed,” Moala says.
Auckland City Mission was one of the 12 days of Christmas grant recipients from Auckland Airport, to help with Christmas food parcels. Photo / Greg Bowker
The Mission has set up a distribution centre at Eden Park where people who have applied for a box can collect them between December 10-19, with others distributed through marae partners in South Auckland.
“The idea is they can take the food away and have the freedom to celebrate and enjoy a meal together as a whānau at home or however they choose on Christmas Day,” Moala says.
“At Eden Park, we also have stalls and activities for people to enjoy as well as support services for things such as budgeting.
“Christmas is the greatest time we are in need and respond at such a high level. It takes a volunteer army of about 45 extra people each day on top of our staff. There are a lot of logistics to organise in terms of receiving the food and packing the boxes, and providing the care and support needed, but we are a well-oiled machine,” Moala says.
“People get really emotional when they receive the food and presents for their kids. That’s how much of an impact it makes. It’s the difference between not having food for Christmas and having food.”
One donation that helped put the icing on the cake is Auckland Airport’s Twelve Days of Christmas community giving programme, which distributes spare change and foreign exchange that travelers deposit in the globe moneyboxes dotted around the airport during the year.
The $10,000 grant helped with additional items of meat, poultry, and protein in the Christmas food parcels.
Moala says the Mission is grateful for the funding and all donations it receives.
“The reality is that as much as the need in our community has risen, our funding from traditional sources hasn’t, which makes it difficult to provide anything additional at Christmas, so this really does make a difference,” she says.
Auckland Airport chief corporate services officer Melanie Dooney says the airport is pleased to be able to help top up the Christmas food parcels from the money received from travellers.
Auckland City Mission was one of the 12 days of Christmas grant recipients from Auckland Airport, the grant helped with additional items of meat, poultry, and protein in the Christmas food parcels. Photo / Greg Bowker
“The Auckland City Mission does an amazing job to make Christmas as special as possible for as many families as it can.
“It’s a privilege to be able to help whānau to have enough nourishing food to sustain themselves and their family through this special time. Being able to provide care and support in this way is what Christmas is all about. A big thank you to the Auckland City Mission for all that they do to care for Aucklanders who need their support”
To support Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai, please text XMAS to 4499 to donate $3 or head to www.aucklandcitymission.org.nz
The 12 charities that were awarded $10,000 each from Auckland Airport’s Twelve Days of Christmas community giving tradition this year were:
