Thursday, 27 August, 2009 - 15:21

Children from St John's in the City will raid over 40 homes this weekend to collect food items for Downtown Community Ministry's Foodbank. The food will then be used to build a food pyramid inside the church before they gather it up again and bring it down to DCM.

Up to 30 kids aged between 5 and 11 are expected plus a number of adults.

Anna Davis, Coordinator of St J's Kids from St John's in the City, says "We wanted a local cause to help the kids learn about social justice and the needs of others. So we encouraged them to think of creative ways to support the Foodbank and offered them the opportunity to deliver what they'd collected personally".

"The younger children sold flowers they'd made up and fudge and bookmarks, while the older ones will raid the cupboards of church members this Saturday."

Others in the church have been motivated by the children's enthusiasm. Anna says, "A lot of people in the congregation have learnt more about the needs of the Foodbank as they've seen the children talk about it. Many of them have contributed too which has been fantastic".

Welcoming the young donors will be DCM Director Stephanie McIntyre. She says, "It'll be exciting to show the children through the Foodbank. I'm sure they'll have some great questions as to how it all works".

This week DCM has also benefited from kind donations of oranges and apples from Tawa Rotary and the Suzanne Aubert Soup Kitchen respectfully.