National Volunteer Week 2024

It’s time to celebrate the collective contribution of the millions of volunteers who enrich Aotearoa New Zealand.

This year’s theme for National Volunteer Week is ‘Whiria te tangata – weaving the people together’. Volunteering weaves us together, strengthening the fabric of our community. Volunteering is a powerful movement. When we volunteer our time, skills and energy, we show we care for our communities. 

Let’s celebrate the diversity of volunteers and volunteering, mahi aroha and social action in Aotearoa. Read on for more about the collective impact made by volunteers at Kaibosh!

Kaibosh volunteers making an impact 

As at May 2024, 207 wonderful people choose to donate their time as a volunteer at Kaibosh! 42 in Kāpiti, 42 in Lower Hutt and 123 volunteers in Pōneke with a busy 7-day food rescue roster in the capital city. 

718 hours of volunteering is contributed to Kaibosh on average every month. That’s 8614 hours in the past year! The dollar value of this collective mahi donated is over $220,000 (based on 2024 living wage). We really couldn’t deliver our important food rescue service for the community without this contribution! 

But we reckon the contribution volunteers make at Kaibosh is priceless – bringing joy, energy, laughter and whanaungatanga to each of our hubs and inspiring us every day.

Thank you to all our volunteers – present and past – your time and effort helps to strengthen our communities every day.

We work alongside and partner with many community groups and charities, who are powered by volunteer mahi and aroha. Thank you to you all.

What do volunteers do at Kaibosh? 

We have a range of volunteer roles across our three sites in the Greater Wellington region, requiring at least 4-6 months commitment to undergo extensive induction and training before joining a regular weekly shift.

So, what does volunteering at Kaibosh look like?

🚚 Driver Food Rescue Support
Accompanying our Kaibosh drivers, food rescue volunteers are out and about in our vans, collecting quality surplus food from supermarkets in the surrounding district.

🥝Food Sorting 
Working together in a medium-large team, food sorting volunteers make sure that donated food is recorded, quality checked, sorted and stored, ready for community groups to collect.

📦Operations Support
Supporting our operations team on site in one of our three hubs, this role involves a variety of tasks on site, which may include loading sorted boxes into our charity partners vehicles, cleaning the site and other ad hoc tasks.

🛒Market Rescue 
Meeting our Kaibosh food rescue drivers at the weekend markets, rescuing food from the stalls, and loading the van with food crates. 

Thank you volunteers! 

Now more than ever, as a volunteering community we commit to manaakitanga and whakawhanaungatanga. We commit to caring, and to building meaningful, enduring and inclusive relationships across our differences and to make space for diverse voices. 

Join us this National Volunteer Week to recognise this collective impact across Aotearoa.