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Success Stories

A new chapter for Good Neighbour

For those who may not have heard yet, we have some bittersweet news to share with you. Simone, we are sad to see you leave Good Nieghbour, but we know your next chapter in Tāupo is about to begin and we pray God’s blessings on your new season at the Waiora Trust and in establishing new friends and connections down in Tāupo. From us all here at Good neighbour… staff, volunteers and funders and sponsors of Good Neighbour….THANK YOU so…

Kitchen wrap-up

As we wrap up 2023, we’re thrilled to share some kitchen highlights with you. 8000kg and Counting: Our incredible kitchen team has whipped up over 8000kg of community meals this year! Each meal carries not just nourishment but a whole lot of heart, thanks to the dedication of our volunteers and chefs. Volunteer Power: Speaking of volunteers, we have a robust crew of around 20 regulars whose passion and commitment make the kitchen a vibrant space where the magic happens.…

When life gives you lemons… make lemon cake! 

The Holland Beckett Family Law team assisted Good Neighbour recently, for what was supposed to be a backyard blitz but turned into a baking blitz. Rain meant that the team couldn’t work outside so instead they assisted inside, using a glut of lemons to create delicious treats – Lemon Cake, Lemon Cupcakes, Lemon Slice and Lemon Honey – as well as macaroni cheese to go alongside. All of the food fed our Good Neighbour volunteers and was portioned out to…

Looking back: LAB & Co

The energy train left the station with 16 destinations on its itinerary. First stop was Mindfulness and then the final destination left us “Jumping with Joy” celebrating the year with Christmas tree fruit platters, refreshments and a trip down LAB & Co memory lane. “Energetic, homely, entertaining and exhilarating. We cannot wait to for next week.” “I like that I can bring anyone along, especially our rangatahi and know that they’d feel safe and a sense of belonging.” These are…

Results for Share the Warmth

Thank you for helping us Share the Warmth across the BOP this winter! Our “Share the Warmth” campaign has successfully raised $5,274 to support our Firewood Depot operations. This is a great start to an annual event, which involves teams from across the city dressing up and collecting food to assist in warming people’s homes, tummies and hearts. Rising living costs, including mortgage rates, have led to an increased demand for food assistance. Thanks to our sponsors: Synergy Technologies, Baker…

Spring Projects Update

Winter saw a huge amount of volunteer hours put into numerous projects including gardens – with lots of yuccas! – rubbish removal and moves. While it always seemed to be raining, we didn’t have a single cancelled project which was amazing. So on our ‘project days’, the sun was either shining or it was dry rain (or dry enough rain 😊). It is always a privilege to be able to help in a small way in people’s lives to make…

New Partnership: The Warehouse Fraser Cove

We’ve formed a new partnership with The Warehouse Fraser Cove to distribute some of their products to our community in need. These products are not good enough to sell, but still great to use and give away to those who need a little hand up. With The Warehouse trialling fresh produce in their Fraser Cove store, it was a great opportunity to get together and talk about sustainability. They were happy to see that together we’re diverting some of their…

Spring Kitchen Update

The Life Skills Programme Our own TBC Boys have just completed their forklift training and are ready to take the assessment for the license.  Amongst other kitchen skills, the boys are now competent at handling a chef’s knife – safely growing in confidence the more they practice. A valuable skill the boys are developing is how to taste, understanding and following the stages of tasting and then knowing how to adjust the taste of a dish accurately. They have also…

Supporting our older people

Through our partnership with Tauranga Foodbank we have recently identified that many pensioners are going without meals because they can’t afford food. There are many reasons for this, including access issues due to weather or mobility or because the finances simply don’t stretch that far. Good Neighbour have teamed up with Tauranga Foodbank, Age Concern, Here to Help U, and Tauranga City Council to offer free and friendly food support delivered right to the door. Open to all those over…

Share the Warmth

Winter has well and truly arrived in the Bay of Plenty and it’s always a great excuse to get comfy in those winter woolies. Unfortunately for some, access to heating and warm clothes is harder than it needs to be. That’s why The Hits Bay of Plenty & Synergy Technologies is proud to partner with Good Neighbour Trust to ‘Share the Warmth’ this winter. From now until August 18th, you can register yourself or your business to take part in…

Out of school, onto the forklift

In March a new group of boys from Tauranga Boys College begun our Life Skills Programme: the innovative training and mentoring programme for students who excel in an out-of-classroom learning environment. We offer them experience in the Good Neighbour kitchen, as well as training in soft skills related to employment. Doing practical tasks in and out of the kitchen, such as meal preparation, but also building a garden bed, making espresso coffee and gaining experience of how to operate a…

Nocturnal adventure

Making a positive difference in our community – that’s what characterizes our sponsors. Like us, they want to be part of the solution and have committed to supporting Good Neighbour financially. A few weeks ago our team set up a magnificent event to thank our sponsors during a nocturnal adventure. In the bush in Pyes Pa, our sponsors were treated to a night out with a glow worm walk, fire pits, live music by the wonderful Midnight Fizz and a…

Awakening the inner Picasso

Awaken the Picasso within you – is exactly what some of our attendees did with an art workshop facilitated by amazing artist and long-time friend of Good Neighbour, Andrea Green. Our objective as a Care Junction/Te Whare Manaaki department is to bring communities together that will provide avenues for better outcomes. One of the people who we’ve been journeying with rarely left home due to debilitating health conditions, made a debut appearance at our art workshop on the 16th of…

Going for gold

8,000 kilos of delicious golden kiwifruit have been devoured by Good Neighbour recipients over the last months. Thanks to the collaboration between Good Neighbour, Mpac packhouse and Zespri, we’ve been able to distribute amazing quality kiwifruit within the Bay of Plenty, with some of it going as far as Rotorua. Kiwifruit gold, also known as SunGold, is very popular and loved by most. Did you know that SunGold kiwifruit is naturally high in vitamin C? It has more than 3X…

Cost of living crisis: Good Neighbour food rescue volumes drop

From: NZ Herald, 22 May 2023 Donations to a Tauranga food rescue service are down 14,000kg a month and the city foodbank had to shrink food parcels – sometimes going without basics such as potatoes and onions – as its expenses soar by $10,000 a month. Charities trying to feed people in the city are straining as food prices and demand rise during the cost of living crisis. An organisation linking people to social agencies says 69 per cent of…

Good Neighbour & Givealittle

Here at Good Neighbour we believe that kindness makes the world go round (and not money). However, we can’t do what we do without hard cash. That’s why we’re stoked to see that we’ve landed the second spot on the top-5 charity list in Givealittle’s Generosity report.  Givealittle gives people the opportunity to do peer to peer fundraising for charity. All Givealittle users can create a fundraiser page to support up to 3 organisations that they love the most. If you’re…

Volunteers move mountains…of beds!

From: The Weekend Sun, Friday 21 April 2023 Volunteers have made short work of a mammoth job – and it’s prompted a call for more local businesses to offer their time to community projects. Tauranga charity organisation St Vincent de Paul was offered a warehouse full of beds and they reached out to Good Neighbour to help relocate them. “It was a huge task that required some heavy lifting,” says Angela Rogers from Good Neighbour. “We put the call out…

Sharing the warmth

For our firewood team, the first months of the year always revolve around getting our firewood ready, especially dry, for the people in our community who struggle to get by. We provide them with low-cost firewood, for $50 they are able to attend a firewood day and receive 2m3 of wood so they can have a warm and healthy home. Due to the extremely wet weather this year, we had some challenges to get our firewood dry. But thanks to…

Food rescue sector united & inspired 

Last Thursday and Friday Good Neighbour hosted the AFRA (Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance) Regional Conference sponsored by Foodstuffs, with 32 representatives from the food rescue sector across the Central North Island attending. The aim was to bring together regional food rescue organisations to connect, learn new skills and ideas to take back to their organisations, and promote collaboration. This hui was not only a fantastic opportunity to meet our fellow food rescue organisations, but also for our own Good Neighbour…

Many hands make light work

‘’A thriving metropolis at the bottom of 15th Ave’’ is how many describe Good Neighbour; they are not wrong. Our dedicated team of 140 food rescue volunteers who receive and sort food from supermarkets, distributors, local markets, and cafes, have distributed a whopping 147,377kgs to 70 charities over the past quarter: an average of 49,000kgs per month. This food is good enough to eat, but not good enough to sell. Our wonderful volunteers, their many hands, and beautiful hearts contribute…

Our new Chair

In March, Good Neighbour welcomed our new Board Chair: Lorraine Miller. Since joining our board in November 2020, Lorraine has been a supporting and encouraging influence in our growing organisation. Her belief in community and working collaboratively speak to the values of Good Neighbour. Lorraine brings her experience as a Trustee of He Kaupapa Kotahitanga Trust Tauranga that operates Awhina House in Tauranga Moana. Their vision to nurture, support and advocate for homeless women in Tauranga Moana was a great…

Wedding Story

The team at Good Neighbour catered their first ever wedding using only food rescued from local supermarkets, the final menu was up in the air right until the morning of the wedding.

Thanks Z Team

Z Station have  an amazing partnership with us.      They have helped with numerous projects often at short notice.    Their workers are always good fun , hard working and enthusiastic.    They have really enjoyed putting back into the community.    A BIG THANKS to Dave and Lynette who pay their staff to volunteer with us and are very supportive in many other ways.      Please watch the video:

Bethlehem Community Gardens

In the spirit of community gardening, the Bethlehem Good Neighbour Community Gardens team really have been working together well, as always. What a team.

Welcome Bay Community Gardens

As the Garden and Art Festival drew nearer it was time for action. The garden bed holders, the volunteers, and the project team rallied around and made magic happen.

Toi Ohomai Students

We distribute food to more than 55 amazing organisations working in our community. Here is Steve and the Toi Ohomai team

Awesome Volunteers

The food rescue team has more than 150 volunteers collecting, sorting and processing food. So many very special people that make this all happen!

Our Place Gardens

Financially, socially and environmentally it makes sense to help everyday New Zealanders learn how to provide more of their own healthy food.
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