A community-driven fruit and vegetable pop-up in Māngere has had a positive start to bringing affordable and accessible fresh fruit and vegetables to local people.
The I AM Māngere and Foodtogether pop-up station at the Envirohub in Māngere has received glowing feedback with many praising the quality and affordability of fruit and vegetables.
Crates of fresh fruit and vegetables are delivered every week for local volunteers to place into packs to be sold at no more than $15 per bag. Whilst the stock may vary each week, people can be assured the produce is delicious and plentiful.
“It’s been great to see so many people come through to the pop-up. The feedback has been positive, people have been saying how beautiful, tasty, and fresh, the produce is that they get from us,” says Toni Helleur, Chief Executive & Community Connector at I AM Māngere.
“Local people are walking to our pop-up station and people from outside of Māngere are making the trip as they know what we have to offer is good quality compared to what they can buy at fruit shops or supermarkets.”
“The community has said that we’ve needed something like this for a long-time. So, to partner with Foodtogether to make this happen has been amazing. Being able to provide the space to bring affordable fruit and vegetables to our community has made us smile.”
The pop-up is an initiative that is being run in partnership between community group I AM Māngere, and Foodtogether, a social enterprise that partners with community groups across the country to help feed communities in a sustainable and accessible way. Healthy Families South Auckland (HFSA) has backboned the project.
“Our role effectively is to support I AM Māngere and Foodtogether to bring this project to life. Our small seed investment helped to subsidise the pop-up with Eftpos tools,” says Hainoame Fulivai, Lead Systems Innovator for Healthy Families South Auckland.
“We saw this investment as a barrier that needed to be alleviated for, I AM Māngere to curve local supply of fruit and vegetables to local community families and individuals,” she says.
“I want to acknowledge our HFSA team Phillipa, Si’ata, Blessing and Lesley for walking this wonderful collaboration with I AM Māngere from the beginning to the end of phase one. Our team will be available to support the partnership in the transition to phase two of the pop-up if they need us, where they will move to extend access to fruit and vegetables via local schools.”
*The weekly pop-up is ‘open’ every Wednesday 12-2pm on the corner of Elmdon Street and Watchfield Close in Māngere, at the community Enviro Hub. Any surplus stock is made available each Thursday at the Nesian Collective store in the Mangere Town Centre, 9am-7pm.
