More than 1200 cans of food donated in Whanganui for Resene Hunger for Colour campaign to help Salvation Army

Major Paul Jarvis and Cath Watson with the cans collected by Resene's Whanganui store for The Salvation Army.

Whanganui people have donated more than 1200 cans of food to help The Salvation Army and City Mission food bank.

For the fifth year, Resene has run its national Hunger for Colour campaign which allows people to swap a can of food for a test pot of paint.

Resene Whanganui ColorShop manager Cath Watson said she was thrilled with the success of the campaign locally.

"It brings people into the store and gives them the opportunity to play with colour and they love that it's going to help a good cause," Watson said.

"We've even got a few cans of pet food in there so people have thought about the animals as well."

This year people had mainly got test pots to help with house colour schemes or for art projects.

Major Paul Jarvis, of The Salvation Army's Whanganui Corps, said the campaign made a big difference to the community.

"It gives us a real boost, especially heading towards winter," Jarvis said.

"We will use some of the cans to help with transitioning people into housing and we're working in conjunction with the City Mission. This is a boost for the City Mission food bank."

Jarvis said the campaign was also a significant contribution by Resene, with the test pots normally costing $4.60 or $5.60 each.

There had been a steady increase in the number of Whanganui people needing food parcels, he said.

In 2018, The Salvation Army provided more than 60,000 food parcels to people throughout New Zealand who were struggling to put food on the table.