Fair Food takes Radio New Zealand on a ride

Check out this awesome interview and story from when RNZ First Up came along on a Woolworths pick up with our team.

General manager Michelle Blau said the amount of "people that need it" has never been higher.

"We're in a growth industry, but we shouldn't be. Every month we set a new record for how much need there is. Right now, we're seeing a real trend of schools who are quite worried about what their kids are going to eat over the summer break. So they're contacting us to say, can we do as much as we can to fill the pantries over summer.

"There's also been a real rise in seniors whose retirement income is just not going as far as it should, and so they're getting kai assistance for the first time."

Thirteen years into the operation, Michelle said it would not be possible without the massive team of 500 volunteers.

Fair Food has distributed nearly 680 tonnes of kai back into the community this year alone - that's about a week's worth of groceries for 80,000 people.

"It's quite frightening, honestly. Funding does not keep up with demand from our customers, the more customers we have, the harder it is. And so and government support is lighter than it's ever been. And so ... I don't have a lot of optimism about what the year ahead might look like in that regard."