Community leader Dave Letele is to close his South Auckland foodbank — citing impossible conditions.
Letele runs a number of programmes in South and West Auckland through his business Buttabean Motivation.
He told Nine to Noon that funding had not kept up with increased demand, and he had made the tough decision to close.
“We all know how tough things are,” he said.
“People down at the bottom, there’s more and more of them, there’s more people, working class, middle class, all being pushed down, so demand on services like ours has just gone through the roof, but the funding is not there to match it.”
Dave Letele’s charity has been a crucial lifeline for struggling families. (Source: 1News)
Letele said they had had good support from corporate and donations, but had to close the foodbank or risk the collapse of the rest of the business.
“I’ve been trying to just work through it but I just don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
“If I wasn’t careful, it could bring down everything, all the other stuff we’re doing too.”
At its peak, the foodbank was providing meals to 700 families but, in March, it cut back to 200.
Letele said it cost roughly $1 million a year to run the business, which went towards the foodshare, social supermarket, leases, and everyday costs.
“We created this juggernaut, it’s just so hard to keep going.”
Letele said they would still provide their other services but the foodshare could not be done.
The business runs programmes for education, upskilling and fitness.
rnz.co.nz
