Kapiti Community Foodbank - Volunteer Story Celebration Winners 2025

Kapiti Community Foodbank would not exist, or function without our loyal, dedicated and lovely team of volunteers. Our busy team of drivers collect community donations from our supermarket collection bins, local businesses and surplus items from local supermarkets. From time to time they may also deliver parcels to our more vulnerable clients.

Our onsite volunteers put together food parcels for our clients with care and consideration ensuring that any dietary needs are met, where possible, and all family members (both human and floofy/feathery) are catered for.

Each parcel is tailor made for the client to ensure that they receive items that are useful for them and to reduce wastage. Our volunteers love the opportunity to personalise the parcels and our clients really appreciate these simple gestures too.

Our volunteers do one morning shift each a week, but will also step in at the last minute if we need extra help on busier days or when we are short staffed. Their knowledge and experience is vital during our annual food drives, which are crucial in keeping our shelves stocked up throughout the year.

They also; use their work and community connections to promote our services; encourage others to volunteer their time: bring in excess garden produce from their friends and neighbours and just generally brighten up our day!

We have a great team of 35 volunteers, several who have been with us for many years. Kind, friendly, non-judgmental and empathetic individuals who work together to ensure that every client feels respected and welcomed, in what can often be an uncertain and stressful time in their lives.

Our volunteers love the work they do and have fun doing it, together. This brings a positive energy and an upbeat and light-hearted atmosphere; with lots of laughter to be heard on a daily basis. Our volunteers certainly don’t take themselves, or each other, too seriously - and we wouldn’t have it any other way!