Countdown Bureta Park is one of many stores that have teamed with the Salvation Army for their annual Food Rescue Christmas Appeal.

The appeal aims to help the growing number of New Zealanders for whom food is a wish list item during Christmas.

To launch it, all 184 Countdown stores in New Zealand will each donate $500 worth of groceries to their local Salvation Army, contributing $92,000 of groceries to support The Salvation Army's foodbanks nationally.

Customers can also make a food donation in specially marked trolleys in-store, or via The Foodbank Project online.

Countdown Bureta Park store manager Jason Hirst says it's a cause strongly backed by the local community.

'We find that this appeal really does work in our store,” he says. 'We get quite a lot of donations and find that our local customers are quite generous. It's a good time of year to give.”

He says the trolley donated by Countdown Bureta has been specifically compiled by a handful of staff members.

'We had a few of our staff, who are really good at this sort of thing, go around our store and specifically select items for our trolley which they thought might help out families in need.”

'They've put a lot of thought into what's gone into our grocery donation, it's not just something where we've been given a default list of items to make up the trolley.”

Salvation Army community ministries manager Davina Plummer says the donation is another way to help bring relief during what can be a stressful time of year for some families.

'This year in particular, we're supporting families in our emergency houses,” she says. 'It would be really beautiful for us to provide a Christmas lunch or dinner parcel that actually had items in it you'd want served on the table on Christmas day.

'It's a particularly special parcel. We're very grateful for the spaghetti and baked beans which help people throughout the entire Christmas season but it's really special when we're able to give people a Christmas meal for that day, which they otherwise wouldn't have.

'Most families are starting to prepare for Christmas dinners and their holidays, our families don't even know where they are going to live let alone what school their kids will be going to next year.”

She says the donations are not limited to families who are supported by Salvation Army.

'We invite other agencies to nominate families who are working with them as well,” she says. 'There's a range of agencies who get amongst it including Plunket Family Start, Te Puna Hauora as well as social workers at the hospital.

'We go through families who we know are doing their best to make ends meat and many of them don't ask for help but we know they wouldn't have it without this.

Through the Kmart Wishing tree appeal Salvation Army also prepare a box of gifts for families, she says. 'When these parcels get gifted to families there is an incredible amount of gratitude, you almost need to be there to witness it,” says Davina.

'You know as a parent you want to provide gifts and a good meal to your children on Christmas and the stress that's there if you don't know how you're going to do that is huge, so the relief that comes when your stress is taken away is beautiful.”

Last year more than 674 trolleys full of food donated by Countdown customers were given to The Salvation Army, helping meet the needs of 17,000 families and individuals who seek help for food assistance at Christmas.

People can donate instore or online at New Zealand's only online foodbank, The Foodbank Project www.foodbank.org.nz.

Since launching in 2015, nearly $400,000 of food and sanitary items have been donated via the site, which are distributed via eight Salvation Army hubs around New Zealand.

The appeal is part of Countdown's Food Rescue programme that donates around $3.7 million in food each year to food bank partners including The Salvation Army, and a further $2.1 million of food scraps to farmers for their animals annually.

Most-needed food items for the Countdown Food Rescue Christmas Appeal:

• Canned goods e.g. baked beans, spaghetti and tomatoes
• Toiletries e.g. soap, shampoo, moisturiser and beauty essentials
• Pasta and rice
• Sugar, flour and spread
• Jellies
• Tinned fruit
• Baby food
• Tea, Coffee, Milo
• Christmas treats e.g. Chocolates, Christmas mince pies, sweet treats