2025 Food drive for the Ōtepoti Dunedin Whānau Refuge's Kai Pantry - A Huge Success!

A few weeks ago, the Tahuna School Council ran what has become an annual Food Drive for the Ōtepoti Dunedin Whānau Refuge. We're proud to say that Tahuna families donated over 1,800 food items!

To say that staff from the Refuge were blown away by our efforts is an understatement. These donations come at a very important time of the year, at a time when Refuge staff worry about whether they will be able to help those in need.

Thanks so much from the School Council for all the support of this initiative.

Below is part of a message sent through to us by Zara from the Refuge after their staff had unpacked all 1800 items:

Hi Tahuna,

With the donations of canned beans, I was able to make a recipe and packs for ‘vegetarian chilli.’ Whānau always greatly appreciate when we do this as it gives them an idea for an easy meal that feeds well. Before you reached out, I had been brainstorming how we will spread our resources out to feed over 20 whānau per week leading into Christmas. Now, we don’t have to worry about this.

We are hugely appreciative of your donation and support as it changes the way we provide for the community. Recently, I had a client come in to collect her kai box and she was amazed by the sheer amount of food we had as we have never had this much! For the first time, I was able to let someone choose whatever kai they wanted to go into their box. She chose spaghetti, tuna, creamed corn, noodles, and more which were all donations from your tamariki. She commented that this was incredibly helpful. Moments like these are so special as something so simple meant something huge for one whānau.

Thank you for all your support.