Monday, April 17, 2006

THIS SUPERMARKET GIVES AWAY ALL ITS FOOD
From a warehouse in Christchurch, New Zealand, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of food finds its way to needy

By John McNeil in Challenge Weekly New Zealand
Special to ASSIST News Service

CHRISTCHURCH, NZ (ANS) -- A bulk supermarket that gives away all its food has provided a helping hand to 18,000 Christchurch families and individuals in just over four years.

LOADING UP: 0800 Hungry founder Kerry Bensemann mans the food warehouse forklift, with warehouse manager Debbie Drain.

The 0800 Hungry Ministries Trust warehouse is tucked away in a back street of suburban Wainoni and works quietly in a servant role with little fanfare. But this is not your little back-room ministry.

When you step through the doors of the 1672 square meter warehouse, you suddenly appreciate the magnitude of this huge operation, which is unique in New Zealand, if not the world.

FILLING ORDERS: Volunteers Sonia Jenkins and Frances Van’t Wout selecting items from the warehouse shelves to be parceled up for those in need.

Hundreds upon hundreds of pallets of food and groceries line shelves tiered three deep.

In one corner the day I visited there were eight pallets of fruit juice. Another area held 15,000 eggs which had just arrived. Large walk-in coolers were hold 100 crates of milk and other perishables. Alongside was a delicatessen section, with frozen chickens, corned beef, ice cream and yoghurt.

There was breakfast cereal, bread, cleaning products – everything you would expect to find in any large supermarket. “You name it, we probably have it,” says manager Debbie Drain. That includes gluten-free or organic products, baby food and milk formula. All tastes are catered for. Pet food is there, too – “a lot of people we provide for have pets for company or protection.”

There are also items you would not expect to find in a food bank. Shelves can contain anything from toothpaste to tampons. There are even some pregnancy test kits on the shelves, which arrived in a “mystery parcel.”

The mountain of goods is donated by manufacturers and big suppliers, most of it close to its use-by date or having damaged packaging, but still perfectly useable.

Sometimes 0800 Hungry benefits from a lull in orders or cancelled orders, when the manufacturer or distributor cannot afford to hold on to stock. Fresh vegetables which don’t meet exacting retail standards come from processors and distributors. “Everything was going to the dump until we came along.”

Most items are collected by 0800 Hungry in their own truck. Once the pallets arrive at the depot, teams of volunteers break the items down into small lots and parcels are made up according to individual requirements of recipients. Founder and CEO Kerry Bensemann – a man who can turn his hands to a dozen different tasks – has adapted or made machinery to speed up handling and packaging of some of the items.

Since opening the food recovery and redistribution warehouse in November 2001, 0800 Hungry has become the largest food distributor in New Zealand, collecting more than $8 million worth of recovered food and household products and distributing them back into the Christchurch community.

The vision for this giant food bank came to Mr. Bensemann six years ago while he was managing the freezer operations for a fisheries company. Watching the waste that sometimes occurred when trucks were loading and unloading, he speculated how that could be turned to use.

“God said to me, ‘I want you to open a food warehouse.’”

It took two or three years to get going, and drew on many of his other skills and experience, which had included time setting up a freight operation for an airline. He takes as his inspiration the verse from Matthew 25: “I was hungry and you fed me ...”

Volunteers are the heart of the ministry and come from 94 churches. Debbie Drain – who Mr. Bensemann says is indispensable – started by cycling to the depot several days a week with her children as a volunteer.

She is now one of the few paid staff, and a daughter works in the office as the first point of contact when recipients phone in with requests.

“The whole aim is to get the Church involved in the community,” Mr. Bensemann emphasizes. “Food is the vehicle.”

0800 Hungry is not trying to do the work of the churches, and makes no charge to the churches, but rather wants to provide them with a tool to connect with their local people.

So no-one needing a food parcel comes to the warehouse. When people phone for food, the organization contacts a local church, which is asked to provide volunteers to pick up the parcels from the warehouse and deliver them.

As a general guideline, if a person makes more than six or seven requests for a food parcel, they are referred for budgeting help or some other form of assistance. However, each case is assessed on its own merits, and if someone could genuinely benefit from a longer period of help, they may well get it.

“The important thing is to get them back on their feet.” At the same time, 0800 Hungry is not a soft touch, and a “tough love” approach is applied when necessary.

“A volunteer bringing a good parcel might be the only Christian who walks up the drive of a recipient, or who prays for them,” Mr. Bensemann says. “Where there’s trouble, there should be a Christian. God is saying, ‘I can put you in their homes.’”

He sometimes gets frustrated at the seeming indifference of some churches to the needs around them. “We have phoned churches and they were not interested. We have delivered food to homes three doors from a church.

“The greatest challenge we face is the spirit of indifference. When opportunity presents itself, are we prepared to take care of those in our community who so often through desperation require our help, or do we turn away?”

An illustration of how effective the partnership with churches can be is provided by Papanui Baptist.

A couple of years ago, Fraser Campbell gave up his role as senior pastor at Papanui to move into community development. In 13 months, he founded a new congregation of almost entirely unchurched people – now numbering more than 70 adults – mainly through the openings provided by 0800 Hungry food parcel deliveries.

“Every week this ministry opens about 12 homes to us,” Mr. Campbell says. “Behind every empty cupboard there’s a raft of contributing issues. It is a privilege to meet these needs, pray with them and turn their gratitude to God. No other ministry has empowered and positioned us so effectively.”

The logo of 0800 Hungry includes three mules carrying laden packs. Mr. Bensemann says that during World War I, the front line often totally relied on mule trains for provisions. If the mules failed to deliver food and ammunition to the front, the troops could not continue to fight.

“Our role is to support those God has positioned on the front line to reach Christchurch. We are a mule ministry, the gleaners who get the food and prepare it.”

The 0800 Hungry warehouse costs $200,000 a year to run. Some of that is provided by a small manufacturing business which Mr. Bensemann also runs, and some by donations. However, this year there is a $115,000 (NZ) shortfall which still has to be made up.

There have been previous attempts in Christchurch to set up similar ventures, but all foundered. It has taken hard work to build up confidence again among suppliers. Careful control is needed to ensure food is not misused, or siphoned off for other uses.

“Building up trust is vital. We also need to have high standards of food handling to handle items such as milk. It has taken a long time to put systems in place and to build integrity.”

Although none of the recipients sees the warehouse, Debbie takes great pride in ensuring it is as well-managed as a commercial supermarket, even to the extent of having all labels pointing to the front. “We take care in handling, to show respect for the recipients.”

The success of the venture means that people from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere have visited to see how the operation works.

Mr. Bensemann hopes to expand the facilities at the Wainoni warehouse, for instance to include drive-in chillers and a kitchen where people can come to learn to cook. “Many don’t know how to use properly the food they are getting.” He is also talking to pastors, trying to encourage a program similar to the “adopt a block” project of the Los Angeles Dream Center.

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John McNeil, a veteran newspaper and radio journalist is South Island editor of Challenge Weekly, New Zealand’s independent and non-denominational and independent Christian newspaper.

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