“We’re providing food with no profit. We’re providing food so that people can be nourished by it, not so we can make money off it and that’s the key difference.”

Jasmin Jackson, Ka Pai Kai Rotorua Chairperson

KA PAI KAI ROTORUA SCALES UP TO MEET HUGE DEMAND

School’s back and Ka Pai Kai Rotorua are providing even more nutritious lunches to students through the Government’s new health and wellbeing initiative ‘Lunches in Schools.’ The first of its kind in New Zealand and costing $45 million, thousands of Year 1 – 8 students will be offered a free and healthy lunch.

Ka Pai Kai Rotorua has been providing affordable, healthy school lunches in Rotorua since May 2017 with the help of 1.5 paid staff, a large group of community volunteers and sponsorship. This operation will continue based out of the Pleasant Heights kitchen for schools who were not included in the new pilot but still wish to offer healthy lunches to their tamariki.

As part of the government’s new pilot, Ka Pai Kai Rotorua have undertaken a large scale-up of their operations in order to become a Lunches in Schools provider. 800 free lunches will be freshly made and delivered daily to local schools Western Heights Primary, Aorangi Primary and Te Wharekura o Hurunga Te Rangi. Lunches in Schools is already planned to scale-out nationally to reach 21,000 kids in 120 schools next year in 2021.

KA PAI KAI SUCCESS

Ka Pai Kai Rotorua credits its success to massive community support, forward thinking schools, a range of sponsors and funders, a large volunteer workforce and experienced leadership.

The social enterprise recently celebrated its expansion with the official opening of its second kitchen from where the free school lunches will be made. Chairperson Jasmin Jackson says, “We’re providing food with no profit. We’re providing food so that people can be nourished by it, not so we can make money off it and that’s the key difference.”

NUTRITIOUS KAI A WAY FOR TAMARIKI MĀORI TO RECONNECT TO THEIR TŪPUNA

Returning tamariki Māori to the way their ancestors viewed kai is really important. Jasmin Jackson who is also a registered nutritionist says ensuring Māori children get access to healthy kai and learn how to like healthy kai is partly about reconnecting with how their ancestors ate and lived.

“For all tamariki, eating well is really important and it’s something that their ancestors did. Their ancestors were incredibly healthy and it was only with colonisation where a lot of the unhealthy kai like white flour, sugar and things like that were introduced that things changed.”

Jackson says, “In Rotorua about ¾ of the students are Māori. We work with Kura Kaupapa Māori, as well as our mainstream schools with really high Māori rolls.”

KA PAI KAI ROTORUA THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Ka Pai Kai Rotorua is a Charitable Trust and brings together a strong governing board with commercial and financial experience, business development and strategic skills.

Social enterprises are purpose-driven organisations that trade to deliver positive social, cultural and environmental impact. Being able to build strong relationships with funders and key stakeholders, alongside mobilising the community has helped enable Ka Pai Kai Rotorua’s success.

DISRUPTING THE KAI SYSTEM

Ka Pai Kai Rotorua’s strategic intent aims to disrupt the kai system in schools by making healthy food accessible to all children. Enabling food security and food sovereignty by providing nutritious kai is a prevention pathway to health and well-being. A prevention pathway includes a whole lot of activities that focus on wellness and keeping well, instead of focusing on how to treat illness.

Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy food. Food sovereignty is the right to choose what food to eat, and to know where it comes from and how it is grown.

BACKGROUND

Founded in May 2017, Ka Pai Kai Rotorua originally made lunches for two schools and shared kitchen facilities at Waikite Rugby & Sports Club and then Tarewa Marae. The demand for Ka Pai Kai quickly grew and by December 2018 the enterprise leased kitchen premises of its own.

Ka Pai Kai Rotorua now proudly has two kitchens: one in Pleasant Heights and the newly opened space in Ngongotaha.

SPONSORING KA PAI KAI ROTORUA

Many of the lunches provided by Ka Pai Kai are made with the help of sponsor organisations and local donations.

Te Arawa Fisheries is one of those organisations and Commercial Manager Aroha Dorset is also a Board member for Ka Pai Kai Rotorua.
 
Dorset says, “Before Ka Pai Kai came along, Te Arawa Fisheries was seeking a way to provide lunches in a couple of schools. On our own we didn’t have the resources to do it. Our board absolutely saw the value in feeding our tamariki so that they can reach their full potential at kura.”

If you would like to sponsor click Ka Pai Kai Rotorua

HEALTHY FAMILIES ROTORUA AND KA PAI KAI ROTORUA

Healthy Families Rotorua partnered with local leaders and champions to develop a solution to preventable chronic illnesses using a systems approach and Ka Pai Kai Rotorua was created to help address these issues.  

Healthy Families Rotorua are very proud of the work driven by the community to make Ka Pai Kai Rotorua a leader in health and well-being.

Tēnei te mihi nui ki a koutou, kai te whānau whānui o Ka Pai Kai Rotorua.