“The helpers were all kept busy as there were lots of boxes. It was extremely successful.”
Support from Gary Younger’s North Rentals Property Management team helped load the full boxes into trucks on Monday, ready for transport, Ward said.
With 321 boxes, the fruit collected was estimated to total 6.4 tonnes, the second-largest Citrus for the South collection, he said.
While fruit collection was not new in Whangārei, this iteration started 11 years ago when a former Christchurch resident noticed citrus fruit being left to rot on the ground, Ward said.
She believed the fruit would be better appreciated in the South Island, where the cold weather stopped citrus from flourishing, he said.
Seventy boxes of fruit were collected the first year, with numbers increasing as more people heard about the project, Ward said.
Lions even offered to help pick unwanted fruit if people were unable to do it themselves, he said.
Many hands make light work for Whangārei’s Citrus for the South collection on Sunday.
Mainfreight was on board from the start, ensuring the donated fruit cost nothing to transport, Ward said.
This year the fruit will be donated to Christchurch’s New Zealand Food Network – which has 14 hubs across the South Island – KiwiHarvest Food Rescue in Dunedin and the Clyde and Districts Lions Club.
Ward said all the fruit was distributed to someone in need, through the likes of food parcels or distribution through schools and retirement villages.
Even those in Whangārei did not miss out, with people invited to come and grab some fruit on the collection day, Ward said.
Boxes of fruit were also taken to local food distribution network Whakaora Kai, he said.
This year’s collection included 156 boxes of lemons, 91 boxes of grapefruit and 49 boxes of oranges, with the remaining boxes filled with mandarins and other citrus.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.