Lockdown heroes: Kōkiri Marae's foodbank shifts up gear to feed thousands

Monday, 30 August 2021

Moana Williams, left, and Kōkiri Marae Pātaka Kai co-ordinator Janis Awatere with one of about 1000 food parcels the Lower Hutt foodbank will deliver this week.

Lockdown has meant Wainuiomata’s pātaka kai has to do more with less.

When the country moved to alert level 4, demand for food parcels from the Lower Hutt foodbank skyrocketed, while some of the more vulnerable volunteers and workers had to relinquish their roles for their own safety.

“People were caught unprepared. Before, we were delivering 120 to 150 parcels a week. In the first week [of lockdown] we did 700. Last week we did over 1000,” says Janis Awatere, co-ordinator at the Kōkiri Marae Pātaka Kai.

The foodbank is no stranger to having to scramble – Kōkiri Marae set it up during the 2020 lockdown when the Hutt Valley’s other foodbanks closed their doors.

Delta has created a need for food parcels.

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It was a trial by fire, Awatere said. The foodbank was producing 1500 parcels a week and delivering them as far away as Wellington and Kāpiti.

“We had to adapt – we were a bunch of social workers, counsellors and [smoking] quit coaches. We had no experience running a foodbank.”

This time the marae is focusing on feeding people in the Hutt Valley.

The pātaka kai has shifted into gear – finding new volunteers, issuing PPE to deliverers and packers, and making contactless drop-offs. They have even roped in the Hutt City Council which is supplying three vans and drivers to help with deliveries.

“Everyone’s happy to do it, We’re having a laugh, we’ve got our sounds on. We play reggae mostly. It keeps us all going – the old stuff makes people go to sleep.”

Awatere said the pātaka kai was distributing more of its larger-sized food parcels this lockdown as bubbles appeared to be bigger.

It was unclear why people were hunkering down in larger groups – Awatere suggested it was to avoid social isolation.

The shift to alert level 3 would likely have little impact on demand as the majority of clients would not be able to return to work, she said. The marae was anticipating another big week.