Successful Hastings initiative Nourished for Nil, which sources and redistributes unwanted food, is opening a Napier branch.
It will be a collaborative project between Nourished for Nil Hastings and Turning Point Church Mercy Ministry. The Napier branch will open at the Church on the corner of Riverbend Rd and Cranby Cres in the first week of March and is open to anyone from the community who finds themselves in need of the service.
Nourished for Nil co-founder Christina McBeth wanted to bring the initiative to Napier after getting a "lot of requests and pleas" from Napier locals to do so.
"We are very excited to be able to give this opportunity to our Napier neighbours because we realise there is also a lot of need for it over there and a lot of food waste in Napier as well," McBeth said.
The church was previously provided with food from Nourished for Nil which they would give out to the community on Saturday mornings. Previously a lot of people would walk to the church from surrounding suburbs on Saturday and wait for hours for the food, so they are excited to expand the service. Between 100 and 200 people would collect food from the church every Saturday so Nourished for Nil saw the opportunity to expand with them.
"As a church, we always look for ways to outreach to our community and just trying to get out there and see the need and we think food is one of the top priorities," Turning Point Church administrator Renee Atkin said.
"Our job as a church is to show the love to the community and show them that we are there, we are not forcing anything on them but if they need anything we are there,"
The hall at the church will be used to provide the food in the same way the Hastings store on Karamu Rd does.
"We want to turn it into a satellite Nourish for Nil, to test the waters in Napier," McBeth said.
"We are very grateful to them [the church] for giving us this landing point because it has meant we have been able to launch into Napier a lot sooner than we thought," she said.
"We are excited to be able to join them because we love what they are doing," Atkin said.
The Napier location will begin Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 4.30pm to 5.30pm starting the first week of March. Nourished for Nil will be welcomed to Napier with a Powhiri at the church to be attended by Napier Mayor Kirstin Wise on March 2.
So far both Countdown Napier, Countdown Carlyle, New World Onekawa and Greenmeadows are on board with the Napier branch and McBeth hopes to establish further local partners such as bakeries and cafes. She hopes to attract Napier donations with the knowledge that the food they provide will stay local in the community. There are currently five volunteers from the church, but the service will welcome volunteers from all parts of the community.
McBeth said Nourish for Nil don't have immediate plans to branch further than Napier but are happy to advise others hoping to establish a food rescue in their community.
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