Last Kai Cafe for 2022 but Food Rescue Will Continue Over the Holidays
Kai Cafe held its last Friday lunch for the year last week but Food Rescue will continue over the holidays. It’s been a tough year for food rescue with fluctuating supplies and amounts of rescue food but the Kai Rescue team are determined to rescue as much edible food as they can and to pass it on to our community through the 24 hour Kai Rescue Fridge, at the Sustainability Centre throughout the holiday period.
“Although we never know exactly what we will get and it changes from day to day we will be putting out communications on our fb page Kai Conscious to let people know if we have a large amount of one particular food or need to move items quickly. As always, our duty is one of care to the Waiheke community and to help people get the food and to make sure that very little goes to waste. We are so grateful to our supermarket staff and the store manager at Countdown Waiheke who understand that this rescue food can be a lifeline, “ says Kai Conscious Project lead Kathy Voyles
This Waiheke Resources Trust project has now been running for 6 years and has proved a successful social connectivity tool for the island as well as a resource recovery programme not to mention the joy of a lovely shared meal at the end of the week.
“It’s always lovely to see people come to the cafe to either volunteer at 11 am or to eat lunch at 1 pm when we say karakia together and have community announcements. It really is delightful to see people meet old friends or make new ones & to teach more and more new cooks how to make Bread and Butter Puddings, Thai Soups and Mashed Potato Pie. And it’s all because of the generosity of Countdown, 4 Square, Francos, Gulf Foods, Waiheke Speciality Food, Hotshot, The Island Grocer, Green Space, Surfdale Food Market, Palm Beach Store, Ostend Dairy and Cafe Fenice, that we can fill the fridge and fill tummies not landfill.
“We are also very thrilled that the fabulous gardeners at Sacred Blessing Sanctuary Gardens are supplying us with vegetables every Tuesday and Friday direct from their gardens which has been fantastic to cook with and to share with the community. And we would like to thank all those home gardeners who drop off fruit and veggies to the fridge but we would ask that people wrap them in newspaper to keep the fridge as clean as possible. It’s so good to see the community working with the community to make sure people are fed,” says Kathy.
In the meantime if you are a food business, restaurant or catering company and have edible food to share please text 021 2421549 to let the rescue team know. They will do their best to get it to the people who need it. The team work most with Waiheke Budgeting who will close from December 23 – Jan 9th. Living Waters will continue their food bag services over the holiday period and work with Kai Rescue to redistribute as much food as is possible. The Kai cafe reopens on January 13th.
