Love Soup dished up on Coast

Julie King

Food will soon be distributed to families in need from a base at Whangaparaoa Community Hall, thanks to Julie King and her team from Love Soup.Julie says she was surprised at the level of need for the service locally. “The problem is quite serious here,” she says. “I’ve been told about people sleeping in their cars at the beach, for example – one person has been doing that for three years.”

Julie’s first initiative was to set up a weekly free meal in Tokoroa in 2013, and that was the start of Love Soup. A Feed the Homeless initiative in Rotorua followed that same year.

Julie says as well as providing a meal, Love Soup is about getting people to meet and talk with each other.

Initially the focus on the Coast will be what Julie calls a Food Rescue service, due to start around the middle of this month. Supported by Countdown supermarkets, this service puts together food for distribution via organisations such as Age Concern, Hibiscus Coast Community House, Te Herenga Waka o Orewa (the local marae) and Women’s Refuge.

Volunteers, based at Whangaparaoa Hall, will coordinate the process and will also take over care of the gardens at the hall. Julie says the team hopes to begin serving free meals at the hall, once a week, from mid-end June. The hall can be opened up to cater for as many as 200 people and Julie says no one is turned away. “We provide healthy meals and reduce food waste, but it’s really about the community being together – that’s what’s important,” Julie says. “We create a happy place to be.”

Info: Look for Love Soup Hibiscus Coast on Facebook, or www.lovesoup.nz