Where Do the Free Food Items Come From?
A key question we often hear is how we are able to provide free food items alongside our low-cost groceries. We work in collaboration with New Zealand Food Network (NZFN), an organization that collects and distributes food and groceries across the country. NZFN gathers rescued food, donations from farmers, supermarkets, and food production companies, ensuring that surplus food is put to good use rather than wasted. We are one of 65 food hubs that receive weekly food supplies from NZFN, which enables us to offer free items to our shoppers. These are products that are not sold but remain safe and nutritious for consumption.
How Do We Source Our Low-Cost Groceries?
To ensure we meet community needs, we actively ask our shoppers what items they need most and do our best to source those products. One challenge we face is that wholesalers typically sell items in bulk, making it difficult to stock a wide variety of products due to financial constraints. One of our most popular offerings is our meal packs, which include a variety of protein and vegetables so that people can cook a nutritious meal straight away.
These packs contain options such as chicken, mince, fish, soup bones, neck bones, and oxtail, along with a selection of fresh vegetables. This approach ensures that families have everything they need for a balanced meal, without needing to purchase multiple individual items.
Pātaka Kai – Community Food Pantrie
Pātaka Kai is a traditional Māori food-sharing concept where surplus food is placed in community pantries for anyone to access at no cost. The Have a Heart Food Hub has established 18 of these pantries over the past two years, strategically located throughout the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Every Thursday, facilitators of these Pātaka Kai collect food from the Food Hub, which is then stocked into the pantries for people in the community to choose from. This initiative has become a significant food distribution network, ensuring that those in need have direct and stigma-free access to nourishment while fostering a culture of generosity and sharing within the community.
Impact on the Community
One of the unexpected yet significant benefits of this transition has been for The Have a Heart Charitable Trust itself. Previously, we relied entirely on external funding, making us vulnerable to financial instability. This new model is paving the way for long-term sustainability.
While we are currently breaking even financially, we anticipate that as awareness of our service grows, so will our customer base. Over time, this will allow us to cover more operational costs independently, reducing reliance on external funding and making the program a truly viable, self-sustaining initiative.
Make a Donation
The costs of living are increasing and not slowing down anytime soon, unfortunately this is driving demand and despair higher in our community. We would like to say thank you to our generous community and organizations in supporting their local community.
We are a registered charity (CC5153), and all donations are tax deductible.
You can make a donation by bank transfer and require a receipt, please include your email or address in the payment reference. Otherwise email us at accounts@haveaheart.org.nz and we will send a receipt within a few days.
Bank Account:
Have a Heart Charitable Trust
Account Number: 06-0489-0242960-02
