Interchurch food bank 25 years old

17_interchurch_foodbank

by EVELYN LEECH
Twenty five years ago, a need to help families and people living alone in Mt Wellington and Panmure areas was identified — and four churches responded. The Panmure Citizens’ Advice Bureau was enlisted to work alongside the churches in providing emergency food parcels.

The churches were St Bernadette’s (Catholic), Mt Wellington — later Immaculate Conception, Ellerslie, Mountainside Lutheran, Mt Wellington Presbyterian (for 12 years) and Mt Wellington Community Church. The CAB now has offices at Sylvia Park as well as Panmure.

During the quarter century of assistance, 12,929 parcels have been delivered, and nearly 50,000 people have been helped. On average, 517 food parcels are delivered each year.

By cooperating and sharing the load, the four churches, with CAB, have a robust framework through which organisations and people can weave their own colours of helpfulness into a blanket of love for the communities we serve, and we strengthen our ecumenical base. Supermarkets donate bread and staples of cans, rice, flour, cereal, pasta and other goods. Growers of potatoes, onions and carrots donate bags of vegetables.

The people in the Lutheran community in Sir Edmund Hillary Retirement Village gives hundreds of dollars every year. The Mount Wellington Trust gives grants when funds run low. The families of St Mary’s Catholic School in Ellerslie give baskets of cans and packaged food. The people who pack the parcels, who decant from large containers into clean jars of cooking oil or dish washing liquids also contribute. Then there are the jam makers as well as the team of drivers who deliver parcels to homes five nights a week for 49 weeks of the year. There are also people who take extra staples to neighbouring food banks, the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul, and nappies to Family Life International.

People who received help from all this effort are self-referred through contacting CAB for a food parcel, or referred by social workers and Plunket nurses and other agencies. Free budgeting is encouraged for families having ongoing financial struggles.

Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out in pairs, into the world to spread his Word, in actions of love and to form faith communities.

By joining together with neighbouring Christian faith denominations, the Mt Wellington food bank has sustained this service of love and mercy for 25 years. We work together to lighten the workload, to learn from one another, to support one another and to make a small difference in a family’s live that is short of funds for food.

Pope Francis has called us to be a Church that gets out into the community where people are living, and bring hope, mercy and love to those we find, in Jesus’s name.

fb-share-icon
Posted in

NZ Catholic Staff

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *