The 2024 Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal is off to a roaring start, with the generous Tauranga community donating thousands of dollars and hundreds of items to the Tauranga Community Foodbank in the first week.

The annual six-week appeal kicked off on November 9, supported by The Hits Bay of Plenty 95.0FM.

As of 8am Friday, the foodbank had received a total of $10,853.93 in donated food and money. This breaks down to $9,446.93 in cash donations and 469 grocery items, valued at an average $3 each by the foodbank.

This is ahead of the same time last year when $9047.50 had been donated through $7670 cash donations and 551 food items.

Last year’s appeal resulted in $251,663.50 in donations – $168,651 in cash and 33,205 food items valued at $2.50 each, totalling $83,012.50.

General manager Nicki Goodwin said the foodbank can feel a “buzz” with many people and businesses reaching out to see how they can help.

“A lot of bulk donations have been made of things like cereal, muesli bars, other treats and some amazing fresh produce.

“We have even had a [cattle] beast donated that we will make into mince, which is just fantastic.”

Goodwin said that at the same time, the foodbank had been busy with people needing support with food and extra volunteers to get the job done.

Over the past year, Tauranga Community Foodbank had supported 24,434 people, up about 9.5% on the year before.

They came from 7862 households and included more than 12,000 children.

Throughout the year, the foodbank has 60 volunteers coming in week-to-week, which swells to between 80-100 volunteers per week leading up to Christmas.

Collectively the volunteers gave back more than 15,000 hours of work to the foodbank, which Goodwin said was an amazing amount.

“They come in here for nothing and are working so hard and making such a difference, we are incredibly grateful to those volunteers,” Goodwin said.

For this year’s appeal, Goodwin’s goal was to match or surpass last year’s donation value at a time when “there’s been some real hardship created through the cost of housing”.

She has seen increased needs in people requiring regular long-term support to get through a financial change of circumstances.

The cost of living for average and beneficiary households has increased by 3.8% in the 12 months to September, according to Stats NZ.

Goodwin said the continued rising need for the foodbank came down to people not having enough money after paying for housing.

“We’re seeing people whose income barely covers just the housing, never mind anything else, and there are people who are struggling which means we will be there to support them for as long as it is needed.”

The last official donation day for the Christmas Appeal is Tuesday, December 23, and any items donated are welcome, even if they’re not on the wish list. Cash donations are also welcome.

Tauranga Community Foodbank Wish List 2024

• Cereal
• Christmas treats
• Spreads
• Tinned soup
• Drinking chocolate
• Instant coffee
• Canned fruit
• Muesli bars
• Tinned fish.