Pokapū Kai is a kaupapa based out of small Anglican church in ōtautahi. For the past six weeks, it has been providing whānau who might otherwise go hungry with quality kai.
The initiative came about through a partnership between Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu and Hui Amorangi - an Anglican Maori Diocese serving whanau in the South Island.
“We allowed them to come here and get set up,” says Nganehu Wallace from Hui Amorangi.
“But it got bigger than us its actually huge if you look at the number of navigators that come to collect kai.”
Wallace has deep roots in the community and says the mahi they are doing to provide for whānau is more important now than ever.
“We’re excited about the number of health packs that we are getting, we are excited about being able to help our people, and we’re excited that people aren't shy to come and give to us.”
Te Pūtahitanga only has 6 more weeks working Te Hui Amorangi until they hand the initiative over to the Wallace and her crew at the church.
“The thing that helps us is that we have the people that need the kai, the volunteers will continue to come and pick up the kai. So we have people at the gate on a Monday and a Friday which is the pouaka kai and we have the hub which is the food hub, we’ll manage.”