PĀNUI
NEWS
Ngā Tāngata: Beyond the Pātaka (Kairos Food Rescue)
11/03/2026
Two suburbs over from where whānau collect their weekly parcels, a warehouse hums with quiet urgency. Every day, food that might otherwise be wasted, café surplus, produce from wholesalers, stock from retailers, is sorted, packed and sent out to community organisations across Ōtautahi. This is the mahi of Kairos Food Rescue's. Not a food bank, but the driving force behind many of them.
Kairos was founded in 2018 by Beth who saw clearly what others looked past: good food going to waste while people nearby went without. What began with rescued café surplus, and a donated shipping container has since grown into one of the city's most significant food rescue operations, supplying dozens of food banks and community groups, including He Waka Tapu.
Inside the warehouse, that work is coordinated daily by Warehouse Lead Grace. She oversees everything moving in and out, and looks after the volunteers who show up each shift. For her, the role is personal.
"I love coming to work knowing that I'm able to look after the community, that I'm able to help people in need," she says. "I've always had a big heart for people that are struggling. This is a perfect opportunity for me to be able to give back."
"The challenge for us as a sector is to amplify the voices of those that are actually doing it really hard." - Kevin Grimwood (General Manager, Kairos Food Rescue)
Some weeks bring bulk pantry staples. Others bring fresh produce. The challenge is not just gathering food. It is making sure what arrives is actually useful to the whānau receiving it.
That requires ongoing conversation between Kairos and the organisations it supplies.
General Manager Kevin Grimwood says that relationship sits at the heart of what Kairos is trying to do in 2026.
"We want to make sure we're picking up as much quality surplus food as we can and getting it out to community groups so that people can eat," he says. "But just as important is working with the organisations we supply food to, so we're actually meeting needs as well."
Some of that is about engaging more with our recipient groups, understanding the types of needs they're seeing, the types of food that would work best, so we can do our absolute best with what we receive."
For Kevin, the work carries a particular weight. Organisations like He Waka Tapu are often faced with enormous need and limited capacity, and that tension does not go unnoticed.
"There's a bit of awesomeness when you're able to provide kai to whānau," he says. "But there's also a real poignancy to that when you know you can't meet all their needs."
He is also clear about the wider kaupapa: providing food is one part of the picture, but how it is provided matters just as much.
For Kairos and He Waka Tapu, that shared intention shapes everything. Kairos rescues and redistributes. He Waka Tapu walks alongside whānau. Together, surplus becomes support and coordination becomes care.
