Fill Their Lunchbox - Help Alleviate NZ Child Poverty

By Ben Diggy

PledgeMe.Project

Community,



NZ $33,630 pledged


466 people pledged


Closed


NZ $30,000 minimum target


100 100% Complete

This campaign was successful and closed on 21/03/2016 at 7:00 PM.

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About

Fill Their Lunchbox - Help Alleviate NZ Child Poverty

Project 2016-02-06 22:05:09 +1300

"Fill Their Lunchbox" has a vision.... We plan to change the tomorrow of New Zealand, but we need your help!

Our Country's Dilemma:

It hurts us greatly to see the future of New Zealand is struggling to get the basic necessities of life. What may seem an assumed basic right to many of us, is a fight for so many.

  • 305,000 kiwi kids live in poverty (thats a huge 29% of NZ children),
  • 148,000 kiwi kids go without food, warmth and clothing,
  • 60% of these children live in poverty for many many years, 
  • 9% live in extreme poverty.

Something needs to be done. We endeavour to do our bit to alleviate the effects this has on the life of our children. Something as simple as providing a lunch to a hungry child can change their life for the better.

What We Do:

Over the past year we have supplied 8,000 lunches to impoverished kiwi kids from three Christchurch schools (Linwood Avenue, Aranui Primary, and Te Waka Unua - a product of the Woolston Primary and Phillipstown Primary merger.) It has been a humbling and a rewarding experience, but we have been limited by funding, and not having our own dedicated kitchen. But, we know with the help of the community, we can do so much more.

Our Plan Moving Forward:

"Fill Their Lunchbox" is moving FULL-TIME with getting our own custom built kitchen that can operate 24/7 and involving you with the "buy one, gift one" model. That is, for every lunch you order, not only do we deliver it to you but we donate a lunch to a kiwi kid in need too. Lunches will be available to order from our website (under construction) the day prior to delivery, and our menu will change every day.

Our lunches for the children will have a health conscious focus, with co-operation from local nutritionists we will be supplying a suitable selection of food to cater to a growing child's needs, whilst tackling New Zealand's child obesity problem.

Our operator, Ben "Diggy" Atkinson is an experienced chef with the passion and creative flair to deliver healthy and delicious fresh food to both our customers and our children.  

Our goal is huge, but so are our hearts. We are aiming to break the cycle and impact of child poverty and with your generous pledges we can build our kitchen and have the capacity to provide lunches to over  2,000 hungry kids every week. 

Funding:

To be completely honest $30,000 is a low ball figure and we will require more personal investment and funding strategies. However, we hope that by doing this together we can raise $80,000 to get this rolling. This covers the cost of our kitchen being built, the commercial kitchen equipment, all installations to be fitted correctly and inspected by the council, working capital to keep us on our feet for the first few weeks, initial stock (food and packaging), rent, utilities, vehicle purchase and maintanance, and paying our small group of staff. To ease this burden we are hoping to have the community help us in donating some of the kitchen equipment needed and can be contacted at the link below.

The Future:

This initiative will take place in Christchurch, a place that has gifted me a beautiful 12 years of memories and experience. However, it is incredibly important to me to also get this initative operational in my home town of Nelson as well. I feel it as a duty and a need to pay homage to my roots, raising over $120,000 would make this a possibility within six months. 

Thank you for your time and we hope you share our passion, every dollar counts and we are in this for the long haul, so find a reward, and pledge your hearts away. Lastly, if you are a business that has a suggestion for a reward you could offer we would love to hear from you, and can be reached via our facebook page 

This is your chance to make a positive change in our own community. One you can see and one you can be involved in.

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” - Mahatma Gandhi

 

Comments

Updates 4

To all Pledgers, it's time to throw cream pies!

25/05/2016 at 3:58 PM

Ok everybody! Hope you have been following our journey on Facebook!
We are getting closer and closer and have organised a small fundraising event on FRIDAY 3RD JUNE between 4 and 6pm. This is your chance to cash in on all of those cream pies you pledged for :)
Here is the event page on facebook make sure to check it out and click attending. 
There will be a live DJ and also some merch and a sausage sizzle available!


Thank you all,

Ben, Alicia, and Tony

You need to pledge to see this update.

LAST DAY

21/03/2016 at 10:30 AM

Thanks to you all for choosing to get behind Fill Their Lunchbox

This is something I am very passionate about and was initially concerned that the general public would not share my passion. You have proven me wrong though, all 441 of you!

The support you have shown to push this over the line has been no short of phenomenal! 

My heart is warmed to see the goodness in so many people, I love our community and how much we care.

We have reached our target of $30k and now in the final hours of our campaign are trying to push to $40k

Our start up cost sits approximately at $80k so the more we can get today the better :)

Please, get involved if you can. Share this campaign, share our latest post on our facebook page, just hours to go! We can do this Christchurch!

#Letsraise40k

Thank you, 

Ben "Diggy" Atkinson

Our Final Week!

15/03/2016 at 5:13 PM

Man what a ride these past few weeks have been, I feel like I've met hundreds of new people and learnt a lot over this process.

We have had interviews with multiple radio stations, articles in The Press, Stuff, and The Nelson Mail, and even a segment with What Now.

We have also been gifted by the generousity of many people who have provided us with Pro-Bono work. It is very much appreciated.

Our Kitchen is designed and the build will begin soon, we are currently looking at some potential sites to put it now which is super exciting!!

I just want to personally thank everyone for all of your pledges, we have had over 180, which is an incredible amount of people to show they care about this issue.

We have six days remaining and $10,000 to raise, I am hoping we can do this and we need all of your support, share our pledgeme page, write a little info on how you know me, or why this cause is important to you. We also would love to have a few businesses come forward as cash sponsors if you know of anyone. We need the village to come in on this.

Thank you all so much, you make be proud to be a cantabrian and a kiwi :)

Ben Diggy

 

    Pledgers 466

    Katie Thomas
    29/02/2016 at 8:41pm
    Anonymous pledger
    29/02/2016 at 8:24pm
    Ronnie Davey
    29/02/2016 at 7:54pm
    Alison Maloney
    29/02/2016 at 7:37pm

    "I love that you have done such a positive thing here in Christchurch "

    Kayla Miller
    29/02/2016 at 7:16pm

    "Amazing! Would love to be a volunteer too. Good stuff, man!"

    Vicky Bishop
    29/02/2016 at 6:58pm
    Anonymous pledger
    29/02/2016 at 6:44pm

    "Guys - been hearing about this on RDU. As I roll to into work, lots of kids are walking to school. None should have no lunch. So. Thanks."

    Carly Miller
    29/02/2016 at 6:30pm
    Margaret Hester
    29/02/2016 at 6:19pm

    "Awesomesauce, you incredibly compassionate, caring and able people. :) :)"

    Zoe Claire Mayhew
    29/02/2016 at 6:15pm

    "Need more people like you, taking steps the government won't take to help alleviate child poverty. Hope this becomes nationwide! Respect💕"

    Jess Wagland
    29/02/2016 at 4:54pm
    Hai Sue Kang
    29/02/2016 at 4:51pm
    Lucretia Dalbeth
    29/02/2016 at 4:49pm

    "What an awesome idea!!"

    emily mcghie
    29/02/2016 at 4:31pm

    "Amazing idea love the work your doing "

    Nikki McLeod
    29/02/2016 at 4:14pm
    Anonymous pledger
    29/02/2016 at 4:04pm
    Elizabeth Creamer
    29/02/2016 at 3:38pm
    Samantha McFedries
    29/02/2016 at 3:26pm

    "Keep up the awesome work, Ben! Saw the article on Stuff, and thought...I know that face - what a champion! "

    Daisy Higgins
    29/02/2016 at 3:13pm

    "Nice one Ben!"

    Anna Whalan
    29/02/2016 at 2:45pm
    Anna Jones
    29/02/2016 at 2:44pm

    "Good luck, great idea"

    Andrea Richey
    29/02/2016 at 2:31pm
    Anonymous pledger
    29/02/2016 at 2:25pm
    Mark Johnston
    28/02/2016 at 4:49pm
    Eileen
    27/02/2016 at 9:43pm

    "Good luck "

    Anonymous pledger
    27/02/2016 at 2:07pm

    "Awesome intiative - keen to help out how ever I can! :)"

    Anonymous pledger
    27/02/2016 at 12:19pm
    Lei-Anne Bashir-Elahi
    27/02/2016 at 7:37am
    Kelly Mitchell
    26/02/2016 at 11:44pm

    "Good luck with your great cause!"

    Kez Meikle
    26/02/2016 at 6:56pm

    Fill Their Lunchbox - Help Alleviate NZ Child Poverty

    Project 2016-02-06 22:05:09 +1300

    "Fill Their Lunchbox" has a vision.... We plan to change the tomorrow of New Zealand, but we need your help!

    Our Country's Dilemma:

    It hurts us greatly to see the future of New Zealand is struggling to get the basic necessities of life. What may seem an assumed basic right to many of us, is a fight for so many.

    • 305,000 kiwi kids live in poverty (thats a huge 29% of NZ children),
    • 148,000 kiwi kids go without food, warmth and clothing,
    • 60% of these children live in poverty for many many years, 
    • 9% live in extreme poverty.

    Something needs to be done. We endeavour to do our bit to alleviate the effects this has on the life of our children. Something as simple as providing a lunch to a hungry child can change their life for the better.

    What We Do:

    Over the past year we have supplied 8,000 lunches to impoverished kiwi kids from three Christchurch schools (Linwood Avenue, Aranui Primary, and Te Waka Unua - a product of the Woolston Primary and Phillipstown Primary merger.) It has been a humbling and a rewarding experience, but we have been limited by funding, and not having our own dedicated kitchen. But, we know with the help of the community, we can do so much more.

    Our Plan Moving Forward:

    "Fill Their Lunchbox" is moving FULL-TIME with getting our own custom built kitchen that can operate 24/7 and involving you with the "buy one, gift one" model. That is, for every lunch you order, not only do we deliver it to you but we donate a lunch to a kiwi kid in need too. Lunches will be available to order from our website (under construction) the day prior to delivery, and our menu will change every day.

    Our lunches for the children will have a health conscious focus, with co-operation from local nutritionists we will be supplying a suitable selection of food to cater to a growing child's needs, whilst tackling New Zealand's child obesity problem.

    Our operator, Ben "Diggy" Atkinson is an experienced chef with the passion and creative flair to deliver healthy and delicious fresh food to both our customers and our children.  

    Our goal is huge, but so are our hearts. We are aiming to break the cycle and impact of child poverty and with your generous pledges we can build our kitchen and have the capacity to provide lunches to over  2,000 hungry kids every week. 

    Funding:

    To be completely honest $30,000 is a low ball figure and we will require more personal investment and funding strategies. However, we hope that by doing this together we can raise $80,000 to get this rolling. This covers the cost of our kitchen being built, the commercial kitchen equipment, all installations to be fitted correctly and inspected by the council, working capital to keep us on our feet for the first few weeks, initial stock (food and packaging), rent, utilities, vehicle purchase and maintanance, and paying our small group of staff. To ease this burden we are hoping to have the community help us in donating some of the kitchen equipment needed and can be contacted at the link below.

    The Future:

    This initiative will take place in Christchurch, a place that has gifted me a beautiful 12 years of memories and experience. However, it is incredibly important to me to also get this initative operational in my home town of Nelson as well. I feel it as a duty and a need to pay homage to my roots, raising over $120,000 would make this a possibility within six months. 

    Thank you for your time and we hope you share our passion, every dollar counts and we are in this for the long haul, so find a reward, and pledge your hearts away. Lastly, if you are a business that has a suggestion for a reward you could offer we would love to hear from you, and can be reached via our facebook page 

    This is your chance to make a positive change in our own community. One you can see and one you can be involved in.

    “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” - Mahatma Gandhi

     

    Comments

    To all Pledgers, it's time to throw cream pies!

    25/05/2016 at 3:58 PM

    Ok everybody! Hope you have been following our journey on Facebook!
    We are getting closer and closer and have organised a small fundraising event on FRIDAY 3RD JUNE between 4 and 6pm. This is your chance to cash in on all of those cream pies you pledged for :)
    Here is the event page on facebook make sure to check it out and click attending. 
    There will be a live DJ and also some merch and a sausage sizzle available!


    Thank you all,

    Ben, Alicia, and Tony

    You need to pledge to see this update.

    LAST DAY

    21/03/2016 at 10:30 AM

    Thanks to you all for choosing to get behind Fill Their Lunchbox

    This is something I am very passionate about and was initially concerned that the general public would not share my passion. You have proven me wrong though, all 441 of you!

    The support you have shown to push this over the line has been no short of phenomenal! 

    My heart is warmed to see the goodness in so many people, I love our community and how much we care.

    We have reached our target of $30k and now in the final hours of our campaign are trying to push to $40k

    Our start up cost sits approximately at $80k so the more we can get today the better :)

    Please, get involved if you can. Share this campaign, share our latest post on our facebook page, just hours to go! We can do this Christchurch!

    #Letsraise40k

    Thank you, 

    Ben "Diggy" Atkinson

    Our Final Week!

    15/03/2016 at 5:13 PM

    Man what a ride these past few weeks have been, I feel like I've met hundreds of new people and learnt a lot over this process.

    We have had interviews with multiple radio stations, articles in The Press, Stuff, and The Nelson Mail, and even a segment with What Now.

    We have also been gifted by the generousity of many people who have provided us with Pro-Bono work. It is very much appreciated.

    Our Kitchen is designed and the build will begin soon, we are currently looking at some potential sites to put it now which is super exciting!!

    I just want to personally thank everyone for all of your pledges, we have had over 180, which is an incredible amount of people to show they care about this issue.

    We have six days remaining and $10,000 to raise, I am hoping we can do this and we need all of your support, share our pledgeme page, write a little info on how you know me, or why this cause is important to you. We also would love to have a few businesses come forward as cash sponsors if you know of anyone. We need the village to come in on this.

    Thank you all so much, you make be proud to be a cantabrian and a kiwi :)

    Ben Diggy

     

      Katie Thomas
      29/02/2016 at 8:41pm
      Anonymous pledger
      29/02/2016 at 8:24pm
      Ronnie Davey
      29/02/2016 at 7:54pm
      Alison Maloney
      29/02/2016 at 7:37pm

      "I love that you have done such a positive thing here in Christchurch "

      Kayla Miller
      29/02/2016 at 7:16pm

      "Amazing! Would love to be a volunteer too. Good stuff, man!"

      Vicky Bishop
      29/02/2016 at 6:58pm
      Anonymous pledger
      29/02/2016 at 6:44pm

      "Guys - been hearing about this on RDU. As I roll to into work, lots of kids are walking to school. None should have no lunch. So. Thanks."

      Carly Miller
      29/02/2016 at 6:30pm
      Margaret Hester
      29/02/2016 at 6:19pm

      "Awesomesauce, you incredibly compassionate, caring and able people. :) :)"

      Zoe Claire Mayhew
      29/02/2016 at 6:15pm

      "Need more people like you, taking steps the government won't take to help alleviate child poverty. Hope this becomes nationwide! Respect💕"

      Jess Wagland
      29/02/2016 at 4:54pm
      Hai Sue Kang
      29/02/2016 at 4:51pm
      Lucretia Dalbeth
      29/02/2016 at 4:49pm

      "What an awesome idea!!"

      emily mcghie
      29/02/2016 at 4:31pm

      "Amazing idea love the work your doing "

      Nikki McLeod
      29/02/2016 at 4:14pm
      Anonymous pledger
      29/02/2016 at 4:04pm
      Elizabeth Creamer
      29/02/2016 at 3:38pm
      Samantha McFedries
      29/02/2016 at 3:26pm

      "Keep up the awesome work, Ben! Saw the article on Stuff, and thought...I know that face - what a champion! "

      Daisy Higgins
      29/02/2016 at 3:13pm

      "Nice one Ben!"

      Anna Whalan
      29/02/2016 at 2:45pm
      Anna Jones
      29/02/2016 at 2:44pm

      "Good luck, great idea"

      Andrea Richey
      29/02/2016 at 2:31pm
      Anonymous pledger
      29/02/2016 at 2:25pm
      Mark Johnston
      28/02/2016 at 4:49pm
      Eileen
      27/02/2016 at 9:43pm

      "Good luck "

      Anonymous pledger
      27/02/2016 at 2:07pm

      "Awesome intiative - keen to help out how ever I can! :)"

      Anonymous pledger
      27/02/2016 at 12:19pm
      Lei-Anne Bashir-Elahi
      27/02/2016 at 7:37am
      Kelly Mitchell
      26/02/2016 at 11:44pm

      "Good luck with your great cause!"

      Kez Meikle
      26/02/2016 at 6:56pm
      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 21/03/2016 at 7:00 PM.