KAI AROHA - Feeding our hungry Community

About

‘Kai Aroha-Feeding Our Hungry Community’ is a voluntary charitable group that feed our impoverished community each Friday night in Greeton, Tauranga NZ

Story

THE MISSION OF KAI AROHA:
‘Feeding and Caring for our Hungry Community – nourishing the body, the heart and the soul’

WHO ARE WE :
¬ We are: ‘Kai Aroha – Tauranga - New Zealand’ – we are a poverty relief service to the community

OUR VISION / OUR MISSION :
¬ is to feed and care for our hungry community by nourishing the body, heart and soul with compassion, kindness and equity.
¬ to alleviate the current poverty situation people are in by providing them with hot nutritious food
¬ to help people move forward in their journey to be free from poverty
¬ to forge relationships and connections with community


OUR PHILOSOPHY: (our idea, our operational blue print, our goal/s and purpose)

¬ to plead the cause of the poor and needy in our community by demonstrating compassion and kindness and equity .


MISSION STATEMENT / PHILOSOPHY (in detail)

We have a fundamental responsibility as people to love all human beings, particularly the poor, the needy, the elderly, the homeless and family and children. Feeding people with nutritious food does not only provide them with a meal but it is our way of demonstrating kindness, compassion and equity to all those in need. We believe that filling the hungry body with food also nourishes the goodness of the heart and encourages the soul with hope for positive outcomes and a better future. It is the impoverished who do not have enough food to eat, that bring Kai Aroha together for their cause.

Kai Aroha is a relief service to the community. We aim to alleviate the current poverty situation people are in by providing them with hot nutritious food and grocery items one night per week. Feeding nutritious food to our community is part of the healing process in helping people move forward in their journey to be free from poverty. Food opens the door to trust and develops confidence. Kai Aroha is a gateway to other services in the community. We listen to their stories and we connect them with community and professional services where needed.

The Kahikatea tree is a symbol of community. This tree is supported by the roots of other Kahikatea. It cannot flourish and grow on its own. The roots are the people and organisations that come together to help support and shelter one another. This is what makes a community flourish and grow. This is the Kai Aroha way of fostering community support for the people, as symbolised by the Kahikatea tree.

‘E tu kahikatea, hei whakapae ururoa, awhi mai, awhi atu, tatou tatou e’
Stand like the kahikatea, to brave the storms, embrace and receive, we are one together.


KAI AROHA AIMS:

The mission of Kai Aroha is to feed and care for our hungry community to nourish the body, heart and soul with kindness, compassion and equity.

Kai Aroha seeks to feed all forms of hungry people that do not have enough food to eat. This includes feeding the homeless, the unseen homeless, upper class homeless, couch surfers, individuals, the elderly, families and children who are living in their homes or in overcrowded conditions, in tents, in shelters or on the street.

We serve the community from ground zero, on the street at the Centre Point Op Shop, Chadwick Road, Greerton. We provide hot nutritious meals every Friday night at this Tauranga location. We also provide grocery items when we can.

Kai Aroha aims to connect to community and be a gateway to other services that seek to serve the impoverished and the needy in our Tauranga Moana community.

We nourish the body, heart and soul with kindness and compassion of heart and word. We encourage self esteem in individuals. We talk to our hungry community, without judgment.

We aim to value every person that comes to Kai Aroha and make them them feel welcomed and respected as people, as individuals and not as poor and needy.