Foodbank leader following her heart
Kirsty being interviewed for TVNZ’s Seven Sharp.
Our Foodbank leader Kirsty is having to get used to appearing in the media. It’s not her first choice to go in front of cameras and interviewers but she does it because she believes in why the foodbank is so important.
She wants to remove shame from asking for food and she wants supporters to know how much their donations help. “I’m super-nervous, but I think it makes it easier because I talk from the heart. I’m talking my truth. There’s a lot of stigma behind asking for help with food and that’s something I’m out to change,” she says.
“There’s a lot of stigma
behind asking for help with food
and that’s something I’m out to
change,”
Kirsty joined us in June last year and her first public moment came soon after when she represented us at the local leaders’ debate. In a video clip she asked Chris Luxton and Chris Hipkins if they really understood the struggle many people faced - and if they did, what would they do about it?
Like many who work at the City Mission, Kirsty is here because it fits a view of how she wants to live her life. She worked for a major retail chain across the South Island, rising to store manager, but after some deep reflection she knew her next job needed to fit her values and “to be all about people and helping people”.
She knows how our foodbank clients feel because, and she says this quietly, there have been times when she hasn’t had enough money for food and needed help from some very supportive friends.
She was too proud to use a foodbank. “So I know what it takes to have to come in and ask for help.”
“For me, it’s super important when interacting with our clients that we are non-judgmental, and it makes them feel comfortable and confident to be able to ask for help again. I can understand where they are coming from. I have empathy for them.”
She joined us last winter and already she can say it is way tougher for our clients this year. She believes now we are seeing more clearly the impact of the cost-of-living crisis even though many people think that was just last year’s story. It’s not and it’s not getting any better.
Kirsty is seeing a growing number of new clients and these include growing numbers of elderly and working families. She’s glad the elderly are coming because they are a generation that finds it hardest of all to seek help. “They are the ones who will sit at home with no heating on.”
Kirsty sees a lot of pain and stress in our clients, but she loves coming to work because she knows here she can make a genuine difference to lives.