{"id":192888,"date":"2025-12-20T04:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T04:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/192888\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T04:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T04:35:09","slug":"christmas-appeal-port-of-tauranga-donates-20000-to-tauranga-community-foodbank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/192888\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Appeal: Port of Tauranga donates $20,000 to Tauranga Community Foodbank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Port chief executive Leonard Sampson told the Bay of Plenty Times the port\u2019s ongoing support for the foodbank had been a tradition for a \u201cwee while\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said now more than ever, there was a real need for the foodbank in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the current challenges, from a cost-of-living perspective and general economies, it is challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Stats NZ, the cost of living for all households<\/a> increased by 2.4% in the 12 months to September.<\/p>\n

This year, Tauranga Community Foodbank has supported 23,618 people and distributed 9520 kai packages.<\/p>\n

Those helped included more than 11,000 children, and 27% of people supported had never used the foodbank service before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sampson said the Port of Tauranga was \u201cvery keen\u201d to play a part in supporting those less fortunate.<\/p>\n

\"FoodbankFoodbank chairman Simon Beaton receiving a donation from Port of Tauranga chief executive Leonard Sampson during last year’s appeal. Photo \/ Kaitlyn Morrell<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s [the foodbank] part of the fabric of all well-run or well-functioning societies, and I think it\u2019s got a part an important part to play, even more so in difficult times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foodbank chairman Simon Beaton said the foodbank had been \u201cfrenetic\u201d during December. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is building up because we\u2019re trying to get stuff out there for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said on Wednesday, the foodbank assisted 61 families, which was twice last year\u2019s average. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was out there doing deliveries yesterday, and that took an hour longer than normal, so it\u2019s very, very busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beaton said the donation from Port of Tauranga this year was an extraordinary amount of money and \u201cextraordinarily\u201d generous.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny money that comes in during this period as donations, 100% of it goes towards food, and $20,000 buys an awful lot of groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin said the ongoing donations gave the foodbank a \u201csurety\u201d there would be support coming in each year.<\/p>\n

\"TaurangaTauranga Community Foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin. Photo \/ Kaitlyn Morrell<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of being reliant on it; it\u2019s a matter of being grateful to know that support is coming the way of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the donation would result in an \u201cawful lot\u201d of people being fed and relieve pressure on the foodbank in the coming months. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a substantial amount of money to support the community, and it\u2019s really nice that they\u2019re [the port] in a position to do that and realise how far that money will go.\u201d<\/p>\n

All financial donations received during the six-week appeal are put towards staple foods, and help the foodbank get through the New Year period as well.<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region forseveralyears and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Port chief executive Leonard Sampson told the Bay of Plenty Times the port\u2019s ongoing support for the foodbank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[46871,6375,18399,1259,98756,62394,111,43,139,69,1118,29268,1227,61],"class_list":["post-192888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-46871","tag-appeal","tag-christmas","tag-community","tag-donates","tag-foodbank","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-port","tag-tauranga","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}