Wellington - Stories from the ground

Kaibosh Food Rescue

Kaibosh encourages staff, volunteers, and trustees to be: courageous, compassionate, smart, genuine, and independent.

We have three branches in Wellington City, Lower Hutt and Paraparaumu. With the help of a dedicated team of more than 250 volunteers, we rescue and sort food seven days a week. We redistribute up to 60,000kg of quality surplus food each month to charities and community groups that support people in need. This is the equivalent of 171,429 meals provided to those who need it most, as well as a 17,940kg reduction in carbon emissions.

Why we do it

Food rescue is good for our community and environment in many ways:

  • Charities and community groups receive a wide range of healthy, nutritious food.

  • This food is provided free of charge, allowing community groups to focus their limited resources on providing valuable services.

  • Stopping quality food from being thrown out significantly cuts down the amount of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere.

  • Food donors make a valuable contribution by providing food to those in their community who need it most.

  • Volunteers have a direct and positive impact on their community and environment.

People are hungry in our communities, but you can do something about it.

Here are some ways you can help Kaibosh to reduce food waste and get surplus food to those who need it in our community:

Donate funds – Make a financial donation to Kaibosh Food Rescue today and make sure no one goes without. Financial donations help Kaibosh with their operating costs across three sites and help keep their food rescue vans on the road. Donate now.

Donate food – Business can donate quality surplus food to Kaibosh. Join over 90 businesses in Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Kāpiti and Horowhenua who regularly donate. You will be helping those who need it the most while cutting your costs and reduce your impact on the environment. Learn more.

Donate time – Kaibosh’s volunteer team is at the heart of their work. In just a couple of hours a week you can make a real difference, helping to reduce food poverty and food waste. Find out more.

Kai Cycle

At our farm in Newtown, we collect the city's food waste on e-bikes and transform it into living compost. We use that compost to regeneratively grow Hua Parakore or pure kai which we distribute to our local community through weekly veggie boxes and donations. We host weekly volunteer sessions, an urban farm school, community workshops, group visits and farm open days to connect our community to the whenua and teach composting and growing skills. Kaicycle offers a model for how communities can transform our urban greenspaces to grow a resilient and circular local food system.

To stay in the loops, check us out on Facebook and Instagram. To find out more about our composting service, veggies boxes,  or our volunteering and education programme visit our website. For all enquiries, reach us at hello@kaicycle.org.nz 

Garden To Table

The Garden to Table Trust is a registered charity that supports schools to teach hands-on classes in the garden, the kitchen and the classroom. Sessions are curriculum-integrated, so they support academic learning, and provide real-world learning opportunities for life. The action-packed and fun programme is centered on growing and cooking skills, but also builds much broader awareness of individual and collective responsibility for health, well-being and the environment.  

Garden to Table is currently running in more than 30 schools in the greater Wellington Region. To find out more, to volunteer in a school or introduce the programme to a school near you visit www.gardentotable.org.nz

Kiwi Community Assistance (KCA)

Kiwi Community Assistance (KCA) is a grassroots charity working to reduce inequality across the Greater Wellington region.

Based in the Northern suburbs of Wellington and the Porirua region, our team rescues good-quality surplus food from local supermarkets, wholesalers and food manufacturers and redistributes it through frontline agencies, community organisations and local food banks to people and families who need a helping hand.
Our mahi goes beyond food. We also collect and redistribute essential non-food items, including clothing, bedding, personal-care products, baby items and other household essentials.

Our Impact

Over the past year, our small team of 53 volunteers and 2.8 paid staff worked together to:
  • Rescue and redistribute 339,586.85kg of surplus food
  • Pack and distribute this food in 23,911 banana boxes
  • Distribute 3,871 banana boxes of essential non-food goods
  • Support 74 agencies across the Greater Wellington region
  • Help provide food and essential goods to more than 120,000 people
Behind every number is a family, individual, child or community who has been supported through one of our partner agencies.

A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out

At KCA, we believe in “A hand up, not a hand out.”
We don't distribute directly to individuals. Instead, we work alongside organisations that are already connected with their local communities and understand where the greatest need is. This means donations can get to the people who need them most, while strengthening the important work already being done within our communities.
Our amazing volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. They rescue surplus food, collect donations, sort and pack food, prepare non-food orders and help keep our warehouse and operations running.
We are incredibly grateful to the businesses, food donors, community organisations, volunteers and financial supporters who make this mahi possible.
Together, we can rescue good food, reduce waste, support our communities and help reduce inequality across the Greater Wellington region.

Support Our Mahi

KCA relies heavily on volunteers, donated goods and financial support to keep our mahi going.
If you would like to volunteer, donate goods, support us financially or work with KCA, we would love to hear from you.
Website: www.kca.org.nz
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/kiwicommunityassistance
Donations: Give A Little