Tēnā koe – Tēnā koutou

We see you!

As Tāmaki Makaurau remain in Level 3 lockdown for their 10th week, while Tai Tokerau and Waikato are also in Level 3, we humbly want to say: ‘We see you! We acknowledge you. We remain in solidarity with you’.

This time of year is Halloween. In Celtic tradition this was a time similar to Matariki. A time of remembering and celebrating those no longer living with us, and a time to celebrate our community, kinship bonds, to have feasts, fun and a bit of dancing.

Halloween means ‘All Holies’ night’. ‘Halo’ (yes, think shiny halo) in Gaelic means blessed. “Halo/Hello” is a greeting to acknowledge someone, to say “I see you and you are sacred”. Tēnā koe is similar - “I see you” or “There you are and we acknowledge your mana!”

We offer our aroha to all those community food organisations working in Level 3 lockdown, who are getting food to whānau. We know you have been distributing more food than at any other time in our history because more whānau are struggling.

We see you! Tēnā koutou!

Say it forward. Show your solidarity.

We warmly invite you to choose an organisation in level 3 to send words of affirmation and encouragement to. Let them know they are not alone.

Ka Mākona - Income Adequacy in Aotearoa

In commemoration of World Food Day, 16 October, Kore Hiakai released ‘Ka Mākona – so we all have enough to thrive’, a report about income adequacy in Aotearoa New Zealand. The purpose is to provide you with a snapshot of the current reality for many of those whānau we work with and to create a better understanding of the root causes.

Ka Mākona – Income Adequacy in Aotearoa New Zealand, was created using data before our latest COVID lockdown. It has been created to generate dialogue on how we might work better together across a range of interested stakeholders, organisations, government agencies and with communities to address the systemic issues that cause food insecurity, and to seek soultions to create sustainable food security for all in Aotearoa.  We encourage you to share and talk about this with others too.

Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland Collaborations

Many of us are optimistic and hungry for an Aotearoa where everyone has dignified access to enough good food, although lately times have been tough. As COVID lockdowns continue to have an impact on food security, we have seen community resources go down, workloads go up, and uncertainty rise.

This past year has been a wake-up call for the importance of a healthy and well-fed society as we witnessed the levels of food insecurity rise through the COVID pandemic – especially impacting our northern communities around the Tāmaki Makaurau and Waikato regions…

Eat NZ Food Hui Update

Food Hui 2021 - A Virtual Event (presented online), Monday 01 November , co-presented by Eat New Zealand and the Restaurant Association of NZ.

This year Eat New Zealand and the Restaurant Association food hui has moved to a virtual online event which aims to bring people together and to hold a space for important conversations. This will include live panel sessions, presentations, as well as the opportunity for Q&A and open discussions.

Mandatory Full Vaccination

The government has announced mandatory full vaccination for those in high-risk roles, specifically education, health and disability workforces. This includes those who do not necessarily provide a health service but their roles require frequent contact and/or engagement with those providing health services and those attached to a healthcare setting. For many Foodbanks and other community food distributors, this policy amendment will impact operations.

This is a good opportunity to undertake the risk assessment process for your community kai organisation – both for your whole organisation and for individual roles. There are great resources to assist with this: https://union.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CTU-COVID-Vaccination-Policy.pdf

It is also an opportunity to talk with your teams about vaccination, remembering you cannot be coercive or directive and that you need to provide opportunities for team members to be given independent expert advice. Read more here: https://www.theworkshop.org.nz/publications/how-to-talk-about-covid-19-vaccinations-building-trust-in-vaccination-a-guide-2021

Many of us have links to health organisations who are more than happy to support this process. If you don’t, this is a time to reach out and make those links. Here is a conversation starter for friends and whānau about COVID-19 vaccination for your information. Kia kaha. Stay strong.

‘Traffic Light System’: The COVID-19 Protection Framework

We give recognition to government’s announcement of the intended new ‘traffic light system’, which will move us away from the COVID elimination strategy into a minimisation and protection approach (implemented when all District Health Boards have reached a 90% double vaccination rate).

Foodbanks and community food distributors have an opportunity to proactively redesign their systems, responses and operational infrastructures before the intended implementation (late November at the earliest). There has been no official release of specific revised guidelines for our sector about distributing Food Parcels, creating or sharing community kai and meals under the intended COVID-19 Protection Framework (traffic light system) itself yet, although please read more here COVID-19 Protection Framework. We hope to have resources to help with this redesign in the community food space in the weeks ahead.

A Standard Food Parcel Measure for Aotearoa

Just Kai? Webinar #4: A standard Food Parcel measure for Aotearoa

Wednesday, 17 November, 1 to 2pm.

This webinar is an introduction to the Aotearoa Standard Food Parcel Measure (ASFPM). Launched in July 2021, the ASFPM offers a standardised way to quantity the nutritional adequacy of Food Parcels being distributed in our communities. It is also proposed as a sector measuring tool which offers a standard ‘unit’ to quantify the number of [standard] Food Parcels disbursed by Foodbanks and community food distributors.

We will outline the details of this measure and gain insight from a pilot organisation who has the ASFPM tool in use, and discuss the active partnerships of local and national food rescue agencies.

Kaimahi: The Team

As we near the end of this final quarter for the 2021 year, we’d like to re-introduce our Kaimahi:

• Pou Ārahi -Tric Malcom

• Pou Māori - Wayne Paaka

• Kairangahau – Jennie Sim

• Kaituitui Kōrero - Tammie Stroman

Remember you are precious! Thank you for all you do as part of this comprehensive team of 5 million striving for a food secure Aotearoa for all.

Tēnā koe! Tēnā koutou!

Aroha mai – Aroha atu!