The Invercargill branch of New Zealand’s largest food rescue organisation, KiwiHarvest is collaborating with the Rotary Satellite Club Southland and Active Southland to deliver whānau play packs to its network recipients in the region, thanks to Sport New Zealand funding.
After encouragement from Active Southland, KiwiHarvest jumped at the opportunity to offer support to the wider community to deliver the play packs and nutritious food parcels to whānau in the region’s most isolated areas.
The idea is to create a healthy balance of nutrition and play. KiwiHarvest will work in collaboration with Rotary Satellite Club Southland, to put together combined packs for 30 small whānau and 50 large whānau.
Each pack will include a range of sporting equipment and opportunities – from rugby, to touch, to basketball and more. They hope to foster better overall wellbeing for Southland families by empowering them to get active and gain confidence.
KiwiHarvest Invercargill Branch Manager, Jessie Beer, says “We are so proud to launch this initiative and incredibly grateful to Sport New Zealand, Rotary and Active Southland for their encouragement and support in this endeavour. We hope to create a positive change in the community and in the wellbeing of our children and young people.”
“KiwiHarvest exists to address our nation’s dual problems of food waste and food insecurity by preventing good edible food from ending up in the bin. We love being able to nourish families in need and it now brings us great joy to be able to offer more than kai,” Jessie said.
Recipients of this round will include families in some of the hardest to reach regions, including Ohai/Nightcaps, Tuatapere and Otautau. The outcome will be used to establish the feasibility of applying for more funding and extending the programme
The $10,000 in funding for the initiative came from Sport New Zealand earlier this month. Sport New Zealand provides funding to support activities for young people, and has a particular focus on groups who are less active, including girls and young women, people with disabilities, and those living in higher deprivation communities.
Active Southland – Healthy Families Invercargill’s Play Systems Innovator, Megan Dawson first approached KiwiHarvest with this idea.
“Our Healthy Families Invercargill team have worked with KiwiHarvest since it first arrived in Invercargill last year. Working with them on the Play Packs initiative is a fantastic way to not only work with communities that may not have access to the same opportunities as more densely populated areas, but to ensure that the wellbeing of our region is enhanced as a result.”
“Food security is a huge issue, not just in Southland, but in all of New Zealand, and it’s something we all have a role to play in addressing. Through its food rescue work, KiwiHarvest is a key player in our local food system, and it is reassuring to know there are organisations operating within our community to ensure people have access to good, nutritious food,” Megan says.
Last year, KiwiHarvest Invercargill distributed 92,117 kilograms of food, which is the equivalent of 263,191 meals across the region. It’s thanks to these meaningful partnerships that new, innovative projects like this can go ahead.
Rotary Satellite Club Southland Chair, Sharon Hamilton, says, “Our members are looking forward to partnering with KiwiHarvest again to help collect and deliver sports and play activities and make a real difference. They love volunteering at KiwiHarvest and the knowledge that their contribution is going to feed more and waste less in our community.”
Consider donating so KiwiHarvest can we get even more food into communities like these: kiwiharvest.org.nz/donate