Sunday Blessings Auckland

Working together to help our friends in need since 2018, Sunday Blessings has coordinated over 200,000 meals for our un-housed community through food rescue, donations and love from our kitchens.

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Broad Vision 

Our aspirational vision is that one day the unjust imbalance of food poverty and food waste, is legislated out of existence

 

Local Vision

Until then, ask you the community to assist with a localised community vision to ensure no rough sleeper goes hungry on a Sunday night

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Mission

Our local mission is to reduce Auckland CBD food poverty and food waste, through a collaborative approach to food rescue and food distribution. We fuel our broad aspirations through actively campaigning for food law and policy reform, and building a community through supporting other groups

 

Hi, welcome! Thank you for wanting to know more about us. This webpage was created in 2019 and is now maintained by a full-time working solo Mum, student and active community member. The best way to stay up to date with our work is through following us on Instagram and Facebook.

 

Sunday Blessings Auckland is a grass-roots community group, utilising community surplus food and working alongside volunteer groups to feed up 200+ guests each Sunday evening. We are currently based at the Ellen Melville Centre, 2 Freyberg place, Auckland Central.

 

We operate next to our partners Orange Sky New Zealand, who offer free washing and showering services, the Akarana Māori Wardens, and we often have clothing and haircutting services on site too.

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Why?

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In 2018, our founders, Laurie McLeod, Audrey Van Ryn and Danielle LeGallais watched people in our city centre search through the rubbish bin for food at night. We learned that no 7 day a week evening meal services exists for our CBD rough sleepers and were not happy with the lack of free kai provision at night because this is the most unsafe and elementally and socially challenging period for people experiencing homelessness in our city. To be hungry on top of these challenges seemed unnecessary given the mass organisational and retail quality food surplus we knew was ending up in the rubbish bin.

 

After a few tries at different models, eventually decided that an effective way to reduce both food waste and food poverty was to establish a food rescue and food distribution service based in our city. We also manage a Central Auckland Free Meals List, which shows where all the free meals are in our city.​​

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Our Core Values

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1. Collective responsibility - We believe that harm to our community harms us all. Conversely uplifting our most marginalised members of our community impacts all of society positively. Therefore, a collective responsibility exists in addressing the social issue of food insecurity.

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2. Accessibility to food is a human right - In Aotearoa, NZ where there is so much food waste, accessibility to food is a fundamental human right that can be achieved through the combination of food law and policy change, that empowers community groups just like us to deliver on that right. There are international human rights legal frameworks that provide for food being a human right, and locally this right is also grounded in obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

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3. Sustainability - We support reduction of food waste and harmful gases by utilising quality surplus food from local retailers, organisations and events that would otherwise go to waste. We also believe in sustainable practices that ensure the longevity of our Sunday Blessings service.

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4. Collaboration - Seeking to work in partnership with as many groups and individuals serving the needs of rough sleeping community at all levels from the ground all the way to Parliament underpins all that we do. Not one person or group can achieve our broad vision alone. We must work together to reduce food poverty and food waste; therefore, every action we take is in line with kotahitanga, or unity, that supports a collaborative approach in our mission.

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Stay up to Date

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A reminder to please follow us on social media to stay up to date with what we have on offer outside of our Sunday & ad hoc meals and get to know our volunteers and guests through our regular updates.

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