Christchurch customers connect over kai

Alex, who shared his story earlier this year about living in the complex, has been working with Kāinga Ora Community Development Manager Amanda to look at ways of bringing tenants together in the community room downstairs.

As part of this, Amanda, with Alex’s help, organised for charitable organisation Kingdom Resources to run its Christchurch-based ‘Money and Kai’ programme, which focuses on things such as menu planning and easy meal preparation.

Christchurch tenant Colin, with Jacinta from Kingdom Resources, whips up a pita bread pizza.

Tenants got together in the community room every Wednesday for four weeks, making the most of the chance to learn about making affordable, tasty meals from scratch before sharing the kai they had made with each other. At one of the sessions, Alex also shared with other residents how he shops and eats on a budget.

Alex says he’s enjoying helping Amanda to bring everyone together and the “Money and Kai’ course has given him, and the other tenants, a real boost.

“Having this home and the sense of purpose of working with Amanda to support and encourage my neighbours to get involved has helped me too, saved my life really.  The course has been very educational and everyone seems uplifted from learning together. It’s increased their mana.

“I've also been able to share the budget learnings and recipes with my friends and family, which is nice,” Alex says.

Jacinta from Kingdom Resources says it was great to see Kāinga Ora tenants enjoying each other’s company and sharing ideas on how to eat well within a budget. “That’s what this course is all about. People saying, ‘I have knowledge, and you have knowledge and how can we make it easier for each other,” she says.