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Food Secure Communities Programme

A comprehensive initiative that integrates various services to address food insecurity while promoting community engagement and social connection. The programme is designed to support vulnerable groups, including pensioners, families, and young people, through a multi-faceted approach.
Key components of the programme includes:

Care Food Packs for Pensioners

Vinnies staff and volunteers visit pensioners’ homes to deliver care food packs, ensuring they have access to nutritious meals while addressing social isolation. These visits provide an opportunity for engagement and connection, helping to reduce loneliness and ensuring that pensioners are supported both nutritionally and socially.

School Food Security Programme

initiative tackles the root causes and effects of food poverty among young people, offering education and awareness. Students are encouraged to explore food stories and food journeys, fostering a deeper connection to the issue of food insecurity. This platform also allows young people to contribute to solutions, giving them a chance to creatively engage in practical ways, such as generating innovative ideas for providing food (kai) within their communities.also creating mara kai and bulk meals oin their school kitchens.

Food Hub and Collaboration with MSD

Vinnies operates a Food Hub that procures, processes, and distributes thousands of emergency food parcels annually to families in need. The programme works closely with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to supply kai (food) to other food banks, strengthening the wider food support network in Auckland.

Vinnies Kitchen - Social Enterprise Kitchen

A key part of the Food Secure Programme, the kitchen has a dual function The social arm of our organisation not only provides affordable, nutritious meals for low-income families but also emphasises sustainability through food rescue initiatives. By repurposing rescued food into healthy meals, we actively minimise food waste and promote food justice. This approach aligns with our commitment to fulfilling social objectives such as creating employment pathways, upskilling volunteers, and directly addressing food insecurity in our community. Secondly Its commercial arm produces high-quality meals for sale.

Vinnies Kai Tahi Programme

This food subscription service is designed to support vulnerable families facing food insecurity by providing access to subsidised, nutritious food along with financial mentoring support. This initiative aims to empower families to improve their overall well-being and financial stability. Families are to subscribe and purchase low-cost meals whilst working on debt recovery.

This integrated approach not only addresses immediate food needs but also empowers communities, particularly youth, to be part of the solution through education, creative problem-solving, and social engagement.