Food rescue, refugees, and relocation made for another busy year for Safer Mid Canterbury.

Safer Mid Canterbury general manager Kevin Clifford said it had been another busy year delivering services across the district, and wider with services in Timaru and Oamaru.

In his annual report to the Ashburton District Council, Clifford said one of the major changes had been taking over the local food rescue service.

Safer Mid Canterbury came to the rescue when Foodbank Aotearoa, the Christchurch-based organisation that collected unsold food from supermarkets and producers to distribute to food banks in Canterbury, announced it was closing days before Christmas.

Clifford met with the Foodbank Aotearoa manager, secured funding from Community Trust Mid and South Canterbury and The Lion Foundation as well as a $30,000 donation from a local business person for the newly named Food Rescue Aoraki to begin operations on January 8.

“We feel confident that we now have the financial backing to sustain the service for the foreseeable future.”

In the last three months, it rescued and redistributed an average of 5.4 tonnes per month in Ashburton and 7 tonnes in Timaru to be on track to exceed the 100 tonnes that was distributed in 2023 he said.

The service costs around $175,000 per year to run which equates to $1.75 per kg of food, with the food valued at around $12 per kg he said.

“It’s a very cost-effective way to get food on people's plates.”

In Mid Canterbury, the food is distributed to 27 community groups, which in turn provide food parcels or pantry top-ups for people in need he said.

Taking over food rescue was one of two major changes in the 2023/24 year.

The other was the relocation to its larger offices, which also came with a $360,000 price tag.

“We had been putting money aside for the previous two years to cover the costs.”

“It has provided us with a great space that is fit for purpose and should be more than adequate for many years to come.”

There are 33 staff working out of the building, with desks for 38 and space for a further eight desks he said.

Aside from food recuse and the move, all of Safer Mid Canterbury’s services were “business as usual” in 2023/24 he said.

The refugee resettlement programme is ongoing, with 181 former refugees resettled and 136 still living in the district.

Safer Mid Canterbury’s revenue, which comes from contracts and grants it secures, increased to $3.6m (excluding GST) from $2.9m the previous year due to funding increase for attendance services, funding for food rescue, and new funding across contracts for pay parity Clifford said.

In the 2024/25 year, Government funding cuts will have an impact, specifically at Oranga Tamariki.

Two long-standing services, Youth Support which has been in Ashburton for 18 years, and family wellbeing for 12 years, have been lost he said.

By Jonathan Leask