Our annual BWN Christmas Lunch for Charity was a great way to send off the year, reflect on some of the challenges we have faced, and connect with our network for the final time before we head into 2021.
Held at the Hotel Armitage’s newly renovated conference space, the team put on a stunning menu just for our attendees, which included a delicious soup with polenta sticks entrée, followed by an alternate mains menu of chimichurri chicken or fresh salmon salad.
This year our charity of choice was Everybody Eats, and as such we invited Aimee Law, Pop up Manager from Everybody Eats, and Julianne McMillian, a front of house volunteer from the Papamoa pop-up, to tell us about this not-for-profit, pay-as-you feel dining concept that started at Bluebiyou in Papamoa post-lockdown.
The mission of Everybody Eats is to reduce food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand. They take perfectly good food that would have otherwise gone to waste and turn it in to restaurant quality three-course meals.
Their customers can pay for whatever they like (even if it’s nothing) for nutritious, freshly prepared food.
On average 60% of the diners are homeless, vulnerable and suffer food poverty. For them it is a free meal, but the model relies on paying customers, young professionals, retirees and anyone who wants to share the same experience but contribute something for it.
Roughly every $10 contributed pays for two meals. At Everybody Eats, the homeless and the CEO diner have the same experience, they are served exactly the same food and receive exactly the same service. The aim is to create an atmosphere where all walks of life can come and share a meal in a safe positive environment.
Bluebiyou got involved in a seven-week trial of Everybody Eats in September this year, and now the iconic Papamoa restaurant operates Everybody Eats weekly on a Monday night from 6-8pm. They are operating in conjunction with Good Neighbour who supply the food, and the local agencies Kai Aroha and Under the Stars, who deal directly with vulnerable people in our community.
They have been consistently serving between 120-160 diners each week, and so far 101 people have signed up to volunteer to help cook and serve.
As a volunteer you don’t need any experience and you can some as often or little as suits. You sign up through their website and book to the weeks you are able to attend specifying the role you would like to do.
Julianne, whose daytime job is at KPMG, shared with us how she had seen the impact of volunteering increase the confidence and improved outlooks for people. She said the volunteers are a tight team, very welcoming and inclusive, and all work together for the best outcome for EE.
Everybody Eats in Papamoa is keen to see their number of volunteers grow, and also the numbers of people coming in to dine.
For those who don’t have time to do either, there was the option to donate directly or buy a warm fuzzie Christmas gift. For more information on all these options visit their website.
It was a great to hear about this new venture and many of our lunch attendees left feeling inspired to support them further, either through volunteering or attending and contributing to a dining experience.
To show our support, BWN donated $800 towards EE, which was taken from $10 of every ticket sale for the event.
Thanks to everyone who has attended a BWN event this year – we already have an interesting line-up of events for 2021, including our inaugural Speaker Series, so keep an eye on the events calendar for details in the coming months.
From the BWN team and committee, Merry Christmas / Meri Kirihimete and Happy New Year.
