From can of soup to can do for Tauranga's homeless

Thursday, 8 June 2017

The Tauranga bus shelter has many homeless people living nearby so is a common stop for the Kai Aroha team.

What started as a 'can of soup and an idea' has turned into Kai Aroha and a year-long commitment to feed Tauranga's homeless population.

For one year Tania Lewis-Rickard, and her growing team of volunteers, have given up their Friday nights to feed those in need.

Volunteers deliver food packages to streeties in Tauranga's CBD.

Outside the Centrepoint Opportunity Shop in Greerton every Friday night Lewis-Rickard sets up tables, chairs, plates and plenty of food ready for their eventual customers.

The table setting is lit only by the dim glow from the internal lights of the shop.

Kai Aroha visit this woman, living in a doorway, often on Friday nights.

Remnants of a Kai Aroha meal sit on a bus shelter in Tauranga CBD.

* Heading closer to a trailer park culture in New Zealand**

Up to 60 people will shuffle in each Friday night, for some it is the only meal they have eaten in days.

Kai Aroha has been feeding the homeless of Tauranga every Friday night for the past year and are hoping others will pick up the call to help those in need. Tania Lewis-Rickard is front centre with Marcia Taikato-Whauwhau to her left.

'We always make sure everyone receives something,' Lewis-Rickard said.

'Sometimes the line gets so big we have to stretch it out a bit.'

Over the course of the year Lewis-Rickard has seen more and more families take up their service as the struggle to make ends meet.

Most of the children wear oversized hoodies and woolly beanies to stave off the cold from life in a car, street or home they are unable to heat.

Adults dress in whatever they can find. Some pick through donated blankets collected by Kai Aroha for distribution.

Most of the food is home cooked and donated by the volunteers' families. Some has been scavenged from Food Rescue or bakery surplus.

'I just wanted to do something for those doing it tough,' Lewis-Rickard said.

'The homelessness problem is getting worse in Tauranga and more and more people are doing it tough.

'I thought 'what can I do?' Then I thought I could cook a meal and take it around. So I made soup and started handing it out.'

Lewis-Rickard has now organised 52 Friday night feeds for the homeless and has evolved into a help distribution centre for those in need.

Donations of blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothes are collected by the group and placed into the 'free trolly' for people ot take away.

'Rain or snow we'll be here handing out food for those in need,' she said.

'We feed the needy, not the greedy.'

Lewis-Rickard said she often gets people calling in to lend a hand and, while she is happy for all the help she can get, she wants to see more people start up thier own meal nights for the homeless.

'We have enough people to help us out so I encourage others to start up their own group and help out wherever they can,' she said.

'If we can get other groups starting up other nights that would be a big help.'

Lewis-Rickard said the job was not for the faint of heart though and there were many times when she doubted she was even making a difference to the ever-growing homelessness problem.

'The best advice I can give is for people wanting to help is to surround yourself with good people,' she said.

'We've only been able to do this thanks to the people who give up their time and help me.

'There is a real need for it and it is rewarding. Nothing worth doing is easy.'

No food will go to waste each night and all the leftovers from the Greerton meal are packed into tinfoil containers and taken by Marcia Taikato-Whauwhau into Tauranga town.

While for many the homeless are out of sight and out of mind, the sight of Taikato-Whauwhau carrying kai soon reveals the extent of the hidden problem.

At least ten people pile out of cars and behind dumpsters to collect their free meal.

'How are you doing?' Taikato-Whauwhau asks. 'Hungry,' one replies. Taikato-Whauwhau uses the opportunity to quiz the homeless about others.

'It's a good way for us to keep in touch with how many people are homeless and where people are staying,' Taikato-Whauwhau said.

'We also want to make sure that nothing goes to waste. We give out food with no judgement or lecture to anyone who needs it.'

One homeless man says, in-between bites, that there are people staying down in Red Square.

'Another is staying in a door way just down the road.'

Taikato-Whauwhau heads over to where she was directed and sure enough there is a mattress made up in the doorway of a disused building. A woman sleeps alone woken by a friendly word from Taikato-Whauwhau.

'Thank you so much,' the woman says. 'I am so hungry. I am very grateful.'

Taikato-Whauwhau says the woman has been staying on the streets for some time now but does not have the means to travel to Greerton to eat her free meal.

Kai Aroha has plans to expand their service to also offer free meals in the Tauranga CBD and said if anyone was looking to set up a similar service it would be the ideal place to start.

Because, Lewis-Rickard says, the only way to feed the homeless is one meal at a time. Even if it is just soup.