How You Helped Bellyful!

Did you get your Christmas presents beautifully wrapped for a gold coin donation at our gift-wrapping booths in December? There was $6089.10 in donations raised, and all the proceeds were donated to Bellyful. Read on to find out how you made a difference in our community.

When speaking with Nikki from Bellyful, we gained some great insights into this amazing organisation! Here’s what Nikki had to say. “Bellyful Tauranga is a local charity who nourishes and connects communities by cooking and delivering free meals to families with new-born babies or young children, who need support.  Having a new baby is hard work and these days many whānau don’t have the traditional support networks around them.”

Bellyful are here to support the Whānau in the most trying times. Whether it be help for single parents, PND, family illness, loss of employment and more. Bellyful’s criteria are also not one of financial need, this highlighting that the community is at the heart of their decision making.

Bellyful is run exclusively by volunteers and funded with donations, grants, and fundraising events. This is where YOU, our amazing community came into the picture during the month of December 2021. With every gold coin donated at our Gift-Wrapping booths, it was all going toward filling the belly’s of those in need.

We asked a few more questions, with heartwarming responses from Nikki.

What sparked the idea of Bellyful?

“Bellyful was born out of the desire to see families supported by their fellow community members – after struggling with her own mental health and experiencing severe anxiety after having her second child, Bellyful founder Jacqui Ritchie remembers how people within her support network (friends and those through her church) arrived on her doorstep with prepared meals and baking.  She recalls how she felt fully supported and that they understood this was a difficult stage and they genuinely wanted to help her and her family.  Instead of feeling lonely and isolated, she felt part of a community.

It was from this experience she dreamt about women coming together to cook meals and distribute them to mums who had new babies and lacked support – in May 2009 this dream became a reality with Bellyful being born.”

What has the gift-wrapping donation from our local community of $6089.10 mean to you and those people you help?

“This donation from Tauranga Crossing means so much to our branch – Over the past 12 months, COVID-19 has caused many challenges for us (including financial pressure) and not just within our branch, but to our greater Bay community in where it has further isolated families.”

“Covid has also prevented us in holding major fundraising events, and so by receiving this donation it reduces that pressure and enables our amazing volunteers to get on with supporting Tauranga whānau, rather than worrying about fundraising.”

What will this community donation be going toward in particular?

“This donation will help cover the costs of new kitchen equipment to assist our volunteers and ensure our cookathons run smoothly, a new fridge/freezer to help store our ingredients plus cover other operational costs.”