Cooking for the community – Jan supports Kura Kai with the gift of good food
Kura Kai is a charity that provides high schools with freezers stocked with nutritious, freezable meals made by local community volunteers.
Guided by the kaupapa “whānau cooking for whānau”, Kura Kai thrives on the dedication of volunteers who generously contribute their time, money, and resources to cook for others in their community.
Founded four years ago, Kura Kai has grown from a modest initiative into a widespread network that now operates in over 40 high schools between Auckland and Dunedin. With no head office, Kura Kai runs out of home kitchens and participating schools.
CrestClean’s Tauranga Regional Master Franchisee Jan Lichtwark regularly looks for ways to give back to the community. He partnered with Kura Kai General Manager Marie Paterson to support the new Kura Kai Christmas Bag Campaign, generously sponsoring 100 bags filled with healthy treats for students who are about to embark on study leave.
“It’s good nutritional stuff before they head off to exams,” says Marie
For Jan, sponsoring the Kura Kai Christmas Bag Campaign was a meaningful way to support rangatahi who need an extra boost of encouragement as exam time approaches.
“I think what Kura Kai provides to schools is amazing. Sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference, even if it is just recognising the hard work students have put in throughout the year,” says Jan.
The idea for Kura Kai was sparked when social media influencer Makaia Carr responded to a request from a local woman asking her to spread the word for meal donations to a school’s Compassion Freezer. The overwhelming response and influx of donated meals inspired Makaia to create Kura Kai as a way of making an ongoing difference.
Having experienced hardship as a young teen mum, Makaia understood firsthand the challenges many families face. She decided to leverage her platform to support others and established Kura Kai, focusing on providing assistance to teenagers – a group often harder to reach with traditional support services.
Today, Kura Kai flourishes thanks to dedicated volunteer co-ordinators in each region, including some who have been part of the organisation since it began.
“For some of the kids, Kura Kai is the reason they come to school,” Marie says.
“There’s a lot of hardship going on out there.”
Students have access to meals year-round, whether during the school term or holidays. Kura Kai provides continuous support to those who need it most.
“Quite often meals are given out to people going through a hard time and they might give back at a later stage. They just need a bit of a hand at the time,” says Marie.
“Even when there’s a bereavement in the whānau, we’ll bring kai to support them.”
Kura Kai is always on the lookout for volunteer cooks and welcomes both businesses and individuals to join their cause. Many companies participate in group cook-ups as a way to give back to the community. Even the All Blacks Sevens team recently took part in a cooking session, working alongside students to prepare meals. The Kura Kai team make it as easy as possible to get involved. The only requirement is to register online.
“There’s no red tape and if you don’t have time to cook, you can donate,” says Marie.
“We’re really grass-roots. We have a small team and keep costs low. It’s a great model because our volunteers in each region are connected to their community and understand the need.”
With the recent rollout of the Kura Kai Rangatahi initiative, students now have the opportunity to prepare meals as part of their home education classes, empowering students with valuable cooking skills while contributing to their communities through volunteer work.
Next year, Kura Kai would like to expand their Christmas Bag Campaign, but, like many charities, they face challenges with funding. If you’d like to contribute to Kura Kai’s mission, you can do so here: Donate Now.
If you or your business want to support them with a cook-up, you can register here: Volunteer Registration.
