Foodbank banking on brown bags
Newspaper readers and supermarket shoppers are urged to dip into their cupboards and support a food bank appeal.
More than 100,000 specially designed bags are being delivered across the South Island for the annual Brown Paper Bag Appeal.
Most of them will be delivered straight to households inside Monday’s newspapers, including The Marlborough Express, and more will be available at New World Blenheim.
Foodstuffs South Island general manager Tim Donaldson said the annual food bank appeal was a way for New World supermarkets to give back to their communities.
‘‘Our stores have a strong community focus simply because they’re owned by locals, staffed by locals and where possible, stocked by local suppliers.’’
‘‘Many already support food rescue programmes by sending food to charities, rather than throwing it away.’’
People were encouraged to fill the bags with non-perishable food and other household essentials, and leave them at New World Blenheim. The bags would then be delivered to the Marlborough Community Foodbank.
Foodbank manager Wynnie Cosgrove said the appeal was great timing as they were running low on some items, especially baking goods such as flour and sugar. ’’But any non-perishable items, we would be grateful for.’’
The amount of donations had varied in previous years, and it was difficult to predict how many bags would be returned, especially as some people held onto them until the street appeal later in the year, Cosgrove said.
But the food bank’s donation bins were in supermarkets all year round. There were 41 New World stores taking part across the South Island and nearly half of the bags would be distributed in Christchurch, with donations to be sent to the Christchurch City Mission.
Of the 145,000 bags, 118,000 would be delivered inside newspapers, and 27,000 more sent out to the supermarkets.