INDEPENDENT NEWS

Help needed as demand for emergency food parcels grows

Published: Tue 11 Sep 2018 04:24 PM
Help needed as demand for emergency food parcels grows in Lower Hutt.
The Lower Hutt Foodbank is calling for community support as the number of people needing emergency food parcels grows.
The Foodbank’s annual Food Drive on Sunday 23rd of September is crucial to stocking up supplies for the Christmas period and beyond when the need for emergency food parcels is high.
The annual total of emergency food parcels (enough food to last a week) given out by the Foodbank has risen by 19% over the last year, with an increase of the number of families, homeless people and single men needing assistance.
Of the 2356 food parcels distributed during 2017-18, 95% has come from community and groups donating food.
“The Foodbank is so appreciative of the generosity of the Lower Hutt community,” says the Food Drive’s organiser, Kevin Hessell. “With no regular public funding we are dependent on the community for the majority of our costs and we will be depending on them again.”
The Hutt News will again sponsor the bag delivery and the Hutt Rotary and Lion’s Clubs are preparing for the mammoth task of collecting the hundreds of bagged food donations.
“The support from the service clubs, Hutt News and the work of our wonderful volunteers is critical allowing the Foodbank to help our community when times are tough,” says Kevin Hessell. “This year we have additional help from Z Energy service stations which will provide a drop-off point for people whose bags have not been collected for some reason.”
The Lower Hutt Foodbank has been helping the community with emergency food parcels since 1986 when Sir John Kennedy-Good, then the Mayor of Lower Hutt, saw a need to better serve the less privileged members of the community
How the food drive works:
Donation bags go out in the Hutt News on 18 September
Donations are left outside letterboxes on Sunday 23rd Septermber before 12pm.
Volunteers from the Lions and Rotary from the Hutt Valley and Eastbourne will be collecting the bags donated streets after 12pm on September 23.
Bags are sorted at the Avalon Pavilion and Eastbourne Scout Hall and taken to the Foodbank in Dudley St.

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