Preserving food a way to give back
Kaiapoi High School hospitality students, Satisfy Food Rescue and Food Secure North Canterbury (FSNC) have been working together to make use of surplus harvested produce that may otherwise have gone to waste.
FSNC approached Kaiapoi High School with an idea to use surplus food in lessons on how to make preserves, which fit well as part of their Harvest Collaboration project.
FSNC partner organisation Satisfy, a Kaiapoi-based food rescue organisation, often receives large donations of harvested produce and were excited at the chance to use donated feijoas and pears as a teaching opportunity.
‘‘When Krysten [Phillips, of FSNC] contacted me about the idea to turn this produce into a useful product and also help those in need in our community, it ticked all the right boxes,’’ said Kaiapoi High School hospitality teacher Andrea Preston.
‘‘I talk to tamariki about being careful with all our resources, and how we all have to be flexible in our programme when the need arises. Free fruit to process is an excellent example of using produce in season. The students were really empowered from this authentic learning experience’’.
The tamariki loved the idea of processing the fruit for a worthy community organisation, such as Satisfy, and Preston found that only one student had ever helped to bottle fruit at home before and this was valuable knowledge to pass on to everyone for their kete.
Kaiapoi High School has been supported by food donations from Satisfy for the past year, so it was great to give back.
‘‘This opportunity fits with our school’s core values, community and excellence. It also links to what tamariki were learning about during the term one of preparing fruit and vegetables’’ Preston said.
Assistant principal Kim van Vuuran and three of the hospitality students delivered the many jars of preserves to Satisfy, where they then heard about how Satisfy would distribute the processed fruit to their recipient organisations that include food banks and other community organisations supporting people in need.
Satisfy distribution coordinator Michelle Campbell said it was great to receive the preserves from the school and to hear about these vital skills being passed on to the next generation.
‘‘Here at Satisfy, we often receive abundance of harvested fruit that may not have much shelf life. Having an opportunity such as this to have the local school do the mahi to process and then donate back to us has been amazing,’’ Campbell said.
‘‘Food banks and other community organisations we support can provide the preserves to people in need with a much longer shelf life.’’
Krysten Phillips, of FSNC, said the project was created to boost food resiliency in North Canterbury, and was ‘‘all about connecting the community to achieve that’’. She said it was great to be able to make that connection between Satisfy and Kaiapoi High School.
❚ If you have surplus produce to donate, or are interested in helping process produce, contact Phillips at foodsecurenorthcanterbury@gmail. com.