Love Soup helps families in need
Food poverty has reached new levels in Tokoroa with one charity noting uptake of its takeaway meals increasing by 400 per cent in less than a year.
Every second Wednesday food rescue charity Love Soup makes well over 300 takeaway meals for those in need. Each free meal comes with mains and dessert.
It comes after the charity, which has the bulk of its food donated via New World, partnered in late 2020 with the Tokoroa Budget Advisory Service, Women’s Refuge, and Activate Church where the meals are made by professional chefs and volunteers.
Love Soup Tokoroa manager Jimmy Boswell, who is a chef himself, said the charity has been blown away by the demand.
‘‘There has definitely been an increase in need because of Covid from people losing jobs or having their hours reduced. Food poverty is real,’’ he said.
‘‘We did 360 takeaway dinners last week and they’re not just going to people on a benefit. We are also talking about people who are working but who are struggling to the point where they are not even treading water.’’
Boswell said by partnering with various organisations and agencies they can ensure the right people are being reached.
‘‘What we are trying to do is make sure it is getting to individuals and wha¯ nau that have a real need,’’ he said.
‘‘The thing is, by identifying and working with other agencies and growing that, we actually know we are reaching the right people.
‘‘Tokoroa Budget Advisory have a lot of desperate families. It’s first order two dinners ago was 65, then last week it was 128, and it’s already got 153 preordered for next week.
‘‘Women’s Refuge also orders about 50 or 60 serves to be distributed to families they know can benefit from it.
‘‘It’s a real achievement to see so many community groups and organisations coming
together in a very functional way.’’ Tokoroa New World owner Viv Smith said he was committed to supporting the community.
‘‘By partnering with local charity Love Soup we’re able to supply almost 100 per cent of the food needed for their takeaway meals,’’ he said.
‘‘More families [are] reaching out each month. We’re so grateful for the work Love Soup do . . . and enjoy working alongside them to feed the Tokoroa community.’’
Pastor Gary Coffin said coming together made sense.
‘‘Part of our passion is getting involved in the community and during the lockdown we developed a foodbank and worked with the
Ministry of Social Development and Civil Defence delivering food parcels to people within the South Waikato,’’ he said.
‘‘We still do all that but we also want to work with other positive groups and people and Jimmy is certainly that.
‘‘Part of our vision when we refurbished our kitchen was also to one day use it for something positive so being able to link in with 360 meals is huge.’’