Martinborough Food Bank demand rising again

Martinborough Food Bank leader May Croft opens the group’s “Priceless on Princess” fund-raising store in mid-December.

Food parcel demand at The Social Crust, Martinborough’s ccommunity food bank, is back on the  rise, with recent weeks seeing at least 63 boxes of food distributed to the needy in the Martinborough and Greytown areas.

And with government funding now ended, the food bank has opened a so-far successful “recycling” shop to help support its cash flow.

Martinborough FoodBank spokesman Peter Croft said the weekly food box output saw “a rise until Christmas time, then there was a drop-off. 

“What we found out was that whanau came to stay over Christmas and they’d  provide additional funding so the need was less. Now that Christmas is over, we find demand is slowly increasing up to pre-Christmas levels. So this (January 24) week we’re doing 63 boxes for Martinborough and Greytown. That’s right up there” with pre-Christmas demand. 

“Most of our (food box) people are working, not full-time work … so people are doing their best to look after themselves and their families and we’re kicking in to help where they’re short.

“What’s depressing is that people have got jobs but are not making enough to cover rent, power and transport – and that’s when food becomes discretionary. We hope to be able to help those people until they’re in a position that they don’t need to come to us any longer. Nobody wants to come to a food bank.” 

Comparing the “list” of food box people from years ago till now “there’s only a very small number who are still on that food list and that’s because most people’s circumstances have changed – they have improved or got a better job or smaller house and don’t need us any longer.”

That also applies to RSE (recognised seasonal employers) workers.

“When it rains and they can’t work because of rain or wind, we’ll … give them a food box.

“The grapevine works very well. They know they can ring us up and get a food box and we’re very happy to do that, because we know once they start work again, we’ll never see them.”

But when “the rain starts we’ll see them back … and we’re happy to see that.”

At the “Priceless on Princess” shop which opened mid-December, Croft said “the perfect customer is somebody who brings goods in, donates them, then buys something. And that happens quite often.”

“We take everything but clothes. Clothes are too difficult for us to manage, but everything else we take. We have an electrician who comes in and certifies that the goods are ok and puts a ‘serviced’ tag on them and then we can resell them.”

“We have really needed a container to store bulky items and things like heaters … for the winter. We’ve been really fortunate to be donated a container, its an insulated container so will be perfect for us.

“At the moment (the store) is a bit overrun by stuff, so it (the container) will give them a chance to put bulky things into the storage. So when people ask about a bed they can have one (in the store) and can be shown the other three we have (in storage).”

Asked whether the first month’s shop trading turnover had matched expectations, he said it had been “much more than we expected. We thought we would do a thousand dollars a month, that was our plan based on $12,000 a year. We have well over doubled that at the moment,” though the group expects “a slowdown over winter.”

“But we’re very confident we’ll be well over our target for the year, and that’s important for us because the government funding has stopped. It started off as a Covid ‘(food) parcel’ arrangement then morphed into something wider but then it stopped in July with our last payment.”

“When we go to the community to raise funds, whether through individuals or community trusts, we want to be able to say we’re doing something ourselves and not just put our hand out.

“So with the shop we can say we are working hard to raise funds ourselves, can you help us extend that? So far it’s been so positive, with people ringing and Facebooking to say ‘what a great thing you’re doing, the town needs it.’ Otherwise most of the (shop goods) stuff would sit in the garage or be taken to the dump.

“As you can see a lot of it is perfectly usable goods that people no longer need in their lives – but somebody will need it and now’s the opportunity for them to buy it.

“We’ve had a number of people who’ve had Airbnb’s, have sold them and are moving on. They have linen, a lot of which is virtually unused and they’ve been donating that to us … and that’s been recycled into a family that really needs it – and everbody’s happy, as we get a little bit off clipping the ticket on the way through.

Croft said the store is becoming “very much” a support for the food bank’s cash income.

“We really need it as we very much want to stand on our own feet and get help – not get everything – from the community. This was we can demonstrate we’re not only doing a good deed for the community but (also) raising some serious money for ourselves.

It also helps recyle goods, for example “toasters and heaters than are perfectly OK,  and once they’ve been certified (electrically safe) they go back into the community and that saves (dumping in) landfill or buying another one.”

“The prices are all affordable. The point is to make everything as affordable as we can. So we’re not trying to get top dollar but to make everything accessible to people who need it.