The community arm of local Auckland church, LIFE, has reopened its LIFE Soup Kitchens this week across the city. Level 3 protocols have permitted a restart of this hugely valuable initiative which serves people a hot, nutritious meal. The only change being that now, all meals are served in a contactless, takeaway format.

Says Nick Edwards, LIFE Community’s spokesperson, ‘’The heart behind LIFE Soup Kitchen has always been to bring help and hope to our communities through ensuring that the most vulnerable do not go hungry.”

In a response to unprecedented current demand, LIFE has repurposed its church Campus at Manukau (opposite Rainbow’s End) as a pop-up Soup Kitchen Hub. “We would normally serve hundreds of people each week and as anticipated we served hundreds more from our LIFE South Campus last night. The location acted as a hub for pick-ups, drive thru collection and distribution by partner agencies in the community”, adds Nick.

LIFE Soup Kitchen normally operates out of five locations around Auckland but is currently reworking how it responds to need to comply with the government’s health guidelines. “We know that families are hurting in our communities who rely on us every week for a meal, so being able to offer this support during this time is such a privilege for us”, concludes Nick.

In addition to the LIFE South location on Wednesday nights for the foreseeable future, there is another Soup Kitchen operating on an ongoing basis out of the Papakura Marae each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. More locations are expected to reopen in coming weeks.

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