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Food Resilience Wairarapa
We lead three Programmes that enrich wellbeing and foster resilience. Click here to find out more about our project REUSE
GROW COMMUNITY GARDENS
Our vision for the Community Gardens is GROW - Garden for Resilience and Optimal Wellbeing
We have 11 allotments in our community garden situated at St Matthews Church, 6 Park Ave, Masterton. Most of these are allocated to social agencies and their clients so that people can learn to grow nutrient-dense-organic vegetables and experience the mental health benefits of being in the garden environment.
The vegetables and fruits we grow are used in our community kitchen to make emergency meals that are given to households that need them, or they are donated to the community.
We meet up every WEDNESDAY MORNING 9.00am-12.00pm. We also offer a variety of workshops, such as lasagna gardening (no dig), chooks, building bug hotels or composting. Follow our Facebook page to see what's coming up, or visit here.
COMMUNITY COOKING CLASSES
Our vision for Community Cooking Classes is fostering communities where people can cook basic meals for their family/whānau to share. Home cooking is more than great nutrition, it's about celebrating culture, history and connection.
Our community cooking classes comprise of four 3-hour sessions, and use recipes that are easy, economical and great tasting!
You'll learn how to cook nutritious, budget-friendly meals. We give tips on supermarket shopping, reducing food waste, bulk-cooking and how to make food interesting with the ingredients we have.
Email here to enquire about our cooking classes.
COMMUNITY KITCHEN -
PROVIDING EMERGENCY MEALS
Our vision for the Community Kitchen is alleviating food insecurity by providing free meals, via agencies, for individuals and families/whānau experiencing food insecurity
Any one of us can experience food insecurity or emergency at any time. It could be individuals and whānau who have lost or had a reduction in their income (or an increase in their expenses), toddlers to elderly, people struggling with mental health issues, or people in transition or without a home.
Volunteers get together as a team to cook economical meals from donated ingredients - some of which would otherwise go to waste. These are individually frozen as 'heat and eat' meals. People access them through community agencies. In 2022/23 we cooked around 7,700 meals.
You don't need to be a cook. Each team is led by a leader/mentor. If you want to be a part of a team helping people access emergency meals, then email here. If you are an experienced/confident cook and would like to mentor a team, then please email here.