Strong Voices

It’s a Friday feast every week at the Kai Kitchen for locals looking to share food and company.

Volunteers cook and serve food at the Linden Community Centre, north of Wellington, for all-comers – there can be anything up to 80 people.

And helping to make the meals run smoothly are five volunteers supported by IDEA Services.

Berlin Ashbrook, Vinny Timotea and Annette Hately have been volunteering for four years and enjoy helping the community and seeing the familiar along with some new faces every week. Emma Kelleher started volunteering as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award and has stayed on.

Jacob Epirama enjoys lending a hand with Berlin and Vinny to set up and pack down tables and chairs, and deal with recycling. Emma and Annette help with food preparation, and sometimes Emma helps to serve food.

On the menu on this particular Friday were pork ribs, beef burgers, chicken pieces, frittata, potato and kumara mash, and steamed vegetables. For those still with space for dessert there was fruit salad and lemon and plum mousse.

Jane Langham, who is one of five volunteer team leaders, says the Kai Kitchen is run entirely by volunteers and has been going for about five years.

“We have a few people who come because they like the company – older people on their own will fall into that category. We have some mothers with children. There are some who genuinely need the extra food help,” she says. “All of them really seem to appreciate the free giveaways at the end.”

The free lunch is prepared with food collected from supermarkets by Kaibosh Food Rescue and after lunch there are boxes of other rescued food items for taking home.

“At a time when Linden Community Centre was initiating various community activities, Kai Kitchen was begun to foster community in Linden while also helping those struggling financially. It has since grown, with guests now coming from the whole Tawa area and also some from Porirua.”

Jane says there are occasional speakers approved by Wellington City Council who talk about community activities, but the lunch is neutral and a safe space for diners.

Another Kai Kitchen team leader, Colin Daley, says there might be 10 to 20 volunteers who turn up to help. “We do say to people, anyone who comes here should not leave hungry.”

Above: Kai Kitchen volunteer Annette Hately has been turning up to help out at the Linden Community Centre Friday lunch for four years. She lends a hand with setting tables and food preparation.