As a community, we have undertaken many service initiatives over the years that give our staff, students, families and Old Collegians the opportunity to come together in the service of others. This term, we started Hangi for the Homeless in partnership with Sunday Blessing to provide meals to 160-200 individuals in downtown Auckland.
Chaplain for the Boys’ School, Girls’ School and Preschool, Rev Reuben B. Hardie explained, “At the heart of our motivation for doing this is that we want everyone to find their worth – a philosophy that connects deeply with our faith in Christ and with our values and our service programme at Saint Kentigern. We hope that by putting together a nutritious meal for them, it will help them know that there are others willing to stand with them on the margins of life and want their lives to be better.”
Under the meticulous planning and coordination of our Boys’ School Technology Teacher and Project Coordinator Patsy Hindson, our first Hangi was served on the 13 February. We have since completed two more sessions where staff and partners from Boys’ School, Girls’ School, Preschool and Trust Services volunteered on a Friday afternoon, and on Sunday morning to prepare and put down the Hangi in our new Food Tech room in the Specialist Facilities on Shore Road and on Sunday evening to transport and serve the meals.
Each time, we have prepared around 160-200 meals, with extra food packs shared with Food from the Heart, another one of our ongoing service programmes.
We plan to carry out this initiative every second weekend of the month, and we look forward to having students and families join us in the preparation and service in the coming months.
