Te Pātaka food parcel scheme launched to help whanau

Monday, 21 September 2020

Lovey Geiger, right, Anaru Stephens, Pip Tavite, Rachael Hāte, Te-Ra Morris and Cindy Batt at the launch of the Te Pātaka programme at Whakatu Marae.

A food box scheme aiming to ensure “no whanau goes hungry' has been launched across the top of the south.

The programme, Te Pātaka, grew from an initiative which began as an initial emergency response to Covid-19 disrupting the lives and income of local whānau.

Te Pātaka Inc (The Pantry) has been running in Wairau (Marlborough) and in Whakatū (Nelson) in a less official capacity since July, but the signing of the agreement and exchange of pounamu on Thursday cemented the initiative’s mandate across Te Tauihu (the top of the south).

Rachael Hāte said the day was “about formalising our agreement with Whakatū”.

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Rachael Hāte and Kim Ngawhika signed the Te Pātaka agreement and exchanged pounamu at Whakatū Marae on Thursday to formalise the initiative

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“We can't be in the same situation again, not necessarily a pandemic, but anything where we’re isolated like that.”

She highlighted the origins of Te Pātaka, which she said had come from many people coming together to “put their hand up … for triaging [during lockdown] and helping our whānau back on their feet”.

“We did what we did really well … then we put our heads down and said ‘look to the future’.

She said Te Pātaka was there for every family that needed it, with the kaupapa that “no whanau goes hungry”.

“Whether that's a mum and a dad, a mum with two kids, whether they're brown, pink, yellow or green, [if] they're hungry it's for them.”

She said the organisation was looking to become more long-term, though maybe not in its exact form.

“We have fantastic navigators who can … point or navigate us to where we need to go next.”

Kim Ngawhika, Whakatū kaiwhakahaere, said she was “really excited to be part of this piece of work”.

“Providing support to our whanau has been part of our work for many years. This is something that works really nicely with the work that we already do.”

She said Whakatū had established a free pātaka “a couple of years ago”, but the Te Tauihu initiative made that service stronger.

“This really formalises our ability to provide food to the community”.

The iwi of Te Tauihu are Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Te Ātiawa o te Waka-ā-Māui, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Rārua, Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Tama, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira ki Wairau.