{"id":538457,"date":"2026-07-22T10:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/538457\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:58:11","slug":"rotorua-families-provide-free-meals-clothing-and-support-through-saturday-community-days-on-the-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/538457\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua families provide free meals, clothing and support through Saturday Community Days – On The Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

It ran from 10am to 12pm.<\/p>\n

It was the fourth community day, serving up free hot meals, barista coffee, clothing, shoes, blankets, and other essentials \u2013 plus a listening ear. <\/p>\n

The day was aimed at those experiencing financial hardship, homelessness, loneliness, or anyone simply needing a helping hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the month, we would have served probably over 200 people,\u201d Stairmand said. <\/p>\n

Stairmand said people loved coming, as the day provided a place to sit, talk and share \u2013 which was \u201cequally as important\u201d as providing essentials.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can share their burdens or just talk about whatever\u2019s on their mind and have some connection\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was a time to remind those needing some hope and connection that there were people who cared, Stairmand said. <\/p>\n

\" Temaia Bennett, Jessica Flood, Belinda Bennett, Nataria Rolleston and Lauren Stairmand are part of the team behind Rotorua’s Community Days, which provide hot meals, clothing and support for people facing hardship.<\/p>\n

She said providing that \u201csafe space\u201d was what set Saturday Community Days apart from some other charities.<\/p>\n

They also weren\u2019t serving up just any meal. It was \u201cgood quality food, prepared with love\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stairmand\u2019s husband, Lyall, spent Friday nights slow-cooking meat and simmering big pots of soup before taking over the barbecue the next morning.<\/p>\n

Pulled pork, brisket and bacon hock soup had featured on the menu.<\/p>\n

Barista-made coffees were made at the hub\u2019s cafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought that would both warm up people and also be a bit of a treat,\u201d Stairmand said.<\/p>\n

Stairmand said demand for the service was high.<\/p>\n

The one Saturday the group took off last month, \u201ca lot\u201d of people were left waiting outside the hub, she said.<\/p>\n

Stairmand said they were looking at ways to better communicate with regular attendees, as many of them did not have phones.<\/p>\n

Only a handful of volunteers were behind the operation, so the group scheduled one weekend off each month to spend time with their families and recharge, she said.<\/p>\n

Stairmand said they were a \u201cbunch of busy people\u201d and hosting the events was \u201cquite a lot of work\u201d alongside fulltime work, homeschooling and other trust commitments.<\/p>\n

\"LyallLyall Stairmand (left) and son Kayden lead the sausage sizzle at one of Rotorua’s Community Days, where volunteers serve hot meals, warm clothing and support to people.<\/p>\n

Throughout the week, they were collecting donations, contacting businesses for support and organising clothing and supplies. They start early on Saturdays to set everything up.<\/p>\n

The initiative relied heavily on community support. <\/p>\n

Otonga Road Primary School donated items for children, while other businesses and organisations had contributed food and supplies.<\/p>\n

As demand continued to grow, the trust launched a Givealittle page to help cover costs of hosting the day, such as purchasing food.<\/p>\n

They were also calling for the help of local businesses and for volunteers. <\/p>\n

People could leave items at the Wellness Hub or get in touch through the Cornerstone Charitable Trust\u2019s Facebook and Instagram accounts. <\/p>\n

Stairmand said they could arrange to collect anything being offered. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would definitely help us continue, but we will continue regardless.\u201d <\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It ran from 10am to 12pm. It was the fourth community day, serving up free hot meals, barista…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,39426,1259,4731,5988,4975,4515,111,43,139,69,90,16654,1327,1534,1886,223,210,810],"class_list":["post-538457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-clothing","tag-community","tag-days","tag-families","tag-free","tag-meals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-provide","tag-rotorua","tag-saturday","tag-support","tag-the","tag-through","tag-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538457","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=538457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}