With the high cost of food ever increasing, a Te Puke-based charity is having to call on the community to continue feeding those in need.

The Daily Café is a charity run café that connects with the community, running initiatives and events, and providing food to those who may be struggling with this basic necessity.

Operating since 2016, the café has operated through the tough times of Covid-19, and is now facing challenges with the rising cost of living.

'This year the rapid cost of food inflation has really affected our charity because the need is still there – and we haven't dropped any of our supply to our community,” says founding member and general manager Chrissi Robinson.

'We've sort of really had to review our budget…and it's not like in a business where you can pass on that increased cost of ingredients through your pricing – in a charity you don't have a price.”

A big part of the charity is providing healthy school lunches to Te Puke schools that aren't considered eligible under the Ministry of Education's Healthy School Lunches Programme. 'Currently we provide 270 unfunded lunches to four schools in the Te Puke area everyday – so that works out to be over 40,000 lunches a year,” says Chrissi.

'Those 40,000 lunches now cost a lot more than we expected to produce, so it's really hard on the budget and the rate of inflation has just been more than we expected.”

With families facing higher food costs, Chrissi says: 'There's hardly a week goes by that one of our unfunded schools doesn't ring and ask: ‘Can we have one more kid because this is the situation [the family] is in'”.

Chrissi is hoping the charity isn't put in a situation where they have to cut back on what they can give. 'If we don't see some kind of shift or improvement, or aren't able to find that support – we'll have to really look hard at what we can do.

'I just don't even want to think about that because I know the food is just so needed. Our strategy is to appeal to our community – to those in our community who are journeying this okay that might be able to chip in for those who need that extra support.

'We've actually started up a Givealittle page campaign with a target of raising $40,000, which is a $1 contribution towards all the lunches that we do.”

If you can chip in, donate at: https://givealittle.co.nz/org/the-daily-charitable-trust