Emergency services in Tauranga, along with the Salvation Army, are holding a food drive on December 3. Photo / Tom Eley
Tauranga emergency services and the Salvation Army are gearing up for a festive foodbank drive on Tuesday, December 3.
During the drive, they will collect food and donations offered by locals in parts of Mount Maunganui, Ōtūmoetai and Pyes Pā.
“We use vehicles with lights and sirens and go just down the street [collecting donations],” Mount Maunganui Community Constable Mark Sanders said.
The emergency foodbank drive supports the Tauranga Community Foodbank and the Salvation Army Foodbank.
It comes during NZME’s annual six-week Christmas Appeal for the community foodbank – now in its third week.
Sanders’ police team will cover the Mount during the foodbank drive, and flyers will go out in advance to homes in the areas that would be covered.
Sanders said the foodbank drive offered a chance to help out the local community and if you receive a flyer, you know your area will receive a visit.
“People that don’t have much [are] often the ones that give the most,” Sanders said.
Hato Hone St John, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the police would be involved in the evening.
Still, if your street did not receive a visit, foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin said there were always other opportunities to help.
“Even if the services don’t make it down someone’s street, it raises awareness,” Goodwin said.
Emergency services can be busiest during the silly season, so it was an immense privilege for Goodwin to have them help out the foodbank.
“I am gobsmacked that these services are willing to volunteer their time when they already have incredibly stressful jobs.”
She said the food donated in Pyes Pā and Mount Maunganui would support the community foodbank, with Ōtūmoetai supporting the Salvation Army’s food service.
She said not every area could or would be visited on Tuesday, because covering Tauranga would require every emergency service in the city.
The combination of the foodbank, emergency services and the Salvation Army brings an awesome force together for Christmas to help the most vulnerable, Tauranga Salvation Army manager Sarah Way said.
“He waka eke noa. We’re all in this together, so we have to be joining forces,” Way said.
Food insecurity was rising in Tauranga as more families battled a cost-of-living crisis and rising unemployment, with new whānau and individuals visiting a foodbank.
“It’s not just about the food. It’s about their [people’s] mana.”
The emergency services' efforts also help to remind people that the men and women in uniform are there to serve their communities, Way said.
If people miss the food drive and want to donate, they can go to the foodbank on Brook St in Parkvale or the Salvation Army on Cameron Rd.
The incident was reported about 7.30pm.