Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022
INSIDE: New lease on life for Abbeyfield P4
P6
Come hungry, leave happy ARE YOU A VIP CUSTOMER? Read ‘Garden Yarn’ on Page 9 to find out if you’re one of our winners
2 x $25 GARDENBARN VOUCHERS TO BE WON EACH DAY
Richmond Funeral Home
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~Incorporating Clareville Crematorium
‘Bereavement care information and support available’ Phone: (06) 3797616
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FOR ALL YOUR FLOORING NEEDS See our advert in Wairarapa Property 97-101 High St North, Carterton Ph 06 379 4055
Kai comforts community Erin Kavanagh-Hall
erin.kavanagh-hall@age.co.nz
In 2018, Bev Jack set up a community-led organisation to tackle food insecurity in Wairarapa: its mission to bring the community together to create nutritious, satisfying food for people in need.
Initially, the Wairarapa Community Centre manager envisioned this would be a “short-term solution”, in place for 12 months at the most. That was four years ago: and not only is the Wairarapa Community Kitchen still standing, but demand for its service has skyrocketed, as whanau are swamped by increasingly unaffordable
living costs. Thankfully, Bev doesn’t have to do it alone. The Community Kitchen now has a roster of over 100 volunteer cooks, supporters have dropped off everything from farm-fresh produce to chest freezers, Masterton district councillors have donated a year’s worth of their lunch money,
and businesses have provided state-of-the-art appliances free of charge. And thanks to this groundswell of support, hundreds of classic “home comfort” dinners are distributed each week to families doing it tough. The Community Kitchen, a partnership between the Community Centre, the Masterton Food Bank, and Waiwaste Food Rescue, was set up to provide readyto-heat meals for people who are homeless, living in transitional housing, or dealing with financial crises. Meals are prepared by teams of volunteers, using surplus ingredients donated by the Food Bank and Wai Waste, then frozen
and collected by local support agencies to distribute among their clients. Since 2018, the Community Kitchen has prepared no fewer than 17,280 meals. Nine hundred of those were distributed last month alone. “When we first started four years ago, if we cooked 50 meals in one day, we thought we were doing well,” Bev said. “Now we know the need that’s out there, we don’t finish a session until we’ve made a minimum of 120. “Just recently we did 147 stews in three hours.” Bev said the need for emergency meals has “doubled” over the last 12 months, thanks in part to the effects of covid-19, supply chain interruptions, and the war in Ukraine. “We noticed a big increase after the lockdown in August last year. And the demand hasn’t gone down since,” she said. Continued on page 3
Staff and students of REAP Wairarapa youth programme Nga Pumanawa Tupuna volunteer at the Wairarapa Community Kitchen. From left: Bev Jack (Community Centre manager), Cody Field, Robert Dyson (team leader), Courtney Naera, Villa Karaitiana, Kyla Herbert, Ricky Dey, Joseph Mita, Trejo Sweet, Naomi Johnson. PHOTO/ERIN KAVANAGH-HALL
97
X-TRAIL ST 7 SEAT FROM
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