Jade Temepara is working with Whānau Ora to run a free programme to help vulnerable whānau to learn how to grow, harvest and cook their own kai at home.

OPINION: The last few weeks have brought uncertainty across Aotearoa.

A huge surge in demand for food parcels is leaving already-stretched organisations, charitable entities and community groups facing a momentous task.

I am working with Whānau Ora to run a free programme to help vulnerable whānau to learn how to grow, harvest and cook their own kai at home. We will also measure the positive impact this has on their wellbeing.

I am looking for whānau in Ōtautahi Christchurch to make a start. If you are interested in taking part, you can fill out the form here.

This is a pilot for a nationwide effort called Te Mahere Whakauka (The Hope Project), working to help create jobs with Māori-led enterprises growing food, planting native seedlings next to waterways and providing a positive impact socially, culturally, environmentally and economically.

"Agencies like Te Pūtahitanga O te Waipounamu (the Whānau Ora commissioning for the South Island) have been flooded with hundreds of requests for emergency assistance to cover basic needs like kai."

With the latest lockdown, numbers have surged with whānau struggling to make ends meet.

There has also been a huge increase in food growing, and wanting to learn at home. I spoke with Kay Baxter from the Koanga Institute, who said seed sales have gone through the roof for September.

If you are interested in the wider project, check out the website here for more information.

Jade Temepara writes a gardening column for Stuff Homed. She is a former New Zealand Gardener of the Year and a food educator who has previously led both gardening and cooking projects with families.

**This is from her article "Food insecurity is Aotearoa's gaping wound, and we're running out of band-aids"