\u201cAs much as it\u2019s been labelled a social supermarket, I prefer to refer to it as a self-choice foodbank,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A single-person household, for example, receives 50 points.<\/p>\n
Those points cost $20, but can be exchanged for up to $180 worth of groceries, giving wh\u0101nau greater choice than a traditional pre-packed food parcel.<\/p>\n
The store is operated by Tamariki T\u016b Tamariki Ora, formerly known as the Kirikiriroa Family Services Trust, in partnership with Foodstuffs North Island and Pak\u2019nSave Mill St.<\/p>\n
Tamariki T\u016b Tamariki Ora chief executive Jay Wainui said the idea grew from a debate about where the organisation should focus its limited resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you asked me a year ago, [if] we were going to open a social supermarket, I would have had you committed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Foodstuffs has supported the supermarket through its partnership with PAK\u2019nSAVE Mill Street, which is acting as the local \u201cbuddy store\u201d. Photo \/ Tom Eley<\/p>\n
But food insecurity was an issue the organisation could not ignore, Wainui said.<\/p>\n
Wainui said the supermarket was about more than putting food on the table, with health, housing, clothing, education and safety support alongside the food.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese all sit alongside the kai, so that a visit for food becomes a doorway for broader man\u0101kitanga [generosity, support],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Taiapa will be a familiar face for wh\u0101nau using the service, receiving referrals from Tamariki T\u016b Tamariki Ora kaimahi (staff) and helping families through the shopping experience.<\/p>\n
Staff can also provide budgeting and nutritional advice, connect wh\u0101nau with other services and offer opportunities for w\u0101nanga (workshops).<\/p>\n
\u201cEssentially, this is going to be a really nurturing hub,\u201d Taiapa said.<\/p>\n
A m\u0101ra kai (food garden) is also planned at the rear of the property, giving wh\u0101nau opportunities to grow food and learn about nutrition and cooking.<\/p>\n
Some food will also be given away to people in need, including excess stock and perishable fruit and vegetables that need to be distributed quickly.<\/p>\n
Wainui described the supermarket as a potential \u201clifeline\u201d for wh\u0101nau experiencing difficult times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our rainbow. This is our unicorn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The supermarket is not open to the general public. Families must be referred through one of Tamariki T\u016b Tamariki Ora\u2019s 14 social support services.<\/p>\n
Foodstuffs North Island chief legal and external affairs officer Julian Benefield said the opening marked the organisation\u2019s 15th social supermarket across the North Island \u201cand we\u2019re very, very proud to be here … and humble to be helping and partnering with you for this critical initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foodstuffs has supported the supermarket through its partnership with Pak\u2019nSave Mill St, which is acting as the local \u201cbuddy store\u201d.<\/p>\n
The project has also received support from community organisations and businesses.<\/p>\n
Social supermarket manager Hera Taiapa (left) and Tamariki T\u016b Tamariki Ora chief executive Jay Wainui. Photo \/ Tom Eley<\/p>\n
The D.V. Bryant Trust contributed $75,000 towards establishing the supermarket and funding a fulltime staff member, while the Department of Internal Affairs and Lottery Grants Board contributed $55,000 towards air conditioning, security and cold storage.<\/p>\n
Mitre 10 supplied materials for the maara kai, while Pak\u2019nSave Mill St staff helped plant it.<\/p>\n
Wainui said the supermarket would require close to $500,000 a year to operate, covering food, staffing and facility running costs.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the opening, Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana Maipi-Clarke highlighted what she described as a contradiction between Waikato\u2019s enormous contribution to food production and the cost faced by local wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n
She said the region produced billions of dollars worth of food while families continued to struggle with food insecurity.<\/p>\n
Maipi-Clarke said the social supermarket was an important service for wh\u0101nau facing rising costs and questioned why locally produced food could sometimes be cheaper overseas than for people living in the communities where it was produced.<\/p>\n
For Taiapa, the hope is that the supermarket becomes a place where wh\u0101nau can find not just food, but a connection to whatever other support they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny opportunity to collaborate, connect and educate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tom Eley is a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. Before joining the Hamilton-based team, he worked for the Weekend Sun and Sunlive. He previously worked as a journalist at Black Press Media in Canada and won a fellowship with the Vancouver Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAs much as it\u2019s been labelled a social supermarket, I prefer to refer to it as a self-choice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,6741,9872,1888,2082,282365,8531,282366,111,139,39870,69,90,5493,2680,2642,38538,100,1072,282364,97,30859],"class_list":["post-572828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-doors","tag-finally","tag-first","tag-for","tag-fridges","tag-hamiltons","tag-humming","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-norton","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-open","tag-opens","tag-rd","tag-referred","tag-shelves","tag-social","tag-stocked","tag-supermarket","tag-whnau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572828","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=572828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}