Neela and her volunteer team of 30 people working six days a week, cooked and delivered 118,000 meals over an 8 month period from February 2023 – October 2024.
The Evergreen Foundation supported this initiative through funding the purchase of the ingredients used to make all the meals. Working with local businesses Pak N Save Tamatea and the HoiChoSan Grocery store in Onekawa, we were able to collaborate to support a group of hugely committed locals cooking for the good of the community. The volunteer initiative clocked up almost 1200 volunteer/people days to deliver homecooked meals on a daily basis to cyclone affected families and workers across the region.
Neela received a Napier City Council 2023 Civic Honours Award for her contribution to community during the Cyclone Recovery.
