An Eastern Bay food provider is in shock after learning it will not receive the Government funding it was expecting to deliver its programmes in the coming year.

The Have a Heart Charitable Trust supports about 300 families through its pātaka kai, community food stalls and food hubs – a service that was established with the support of the Ministry of Social Development as part of the Covid-19 emergency food response.

Founder Chris Barnard said the organisation had received government funding since 2022 but had been told it would not receive Food Secure Communities funding for 2026-27.

He said the decision came as a shock because Have a Heart had continued operating as an established food provider in the Eastern Bay.

“We were part of the initial infrastructure that was set up at the time of Covid for emergency parcels,” Barnard said.

“MSD supported us and helped us to get set up as a food provider in this area.”

Barnard believes there is confusion within MSD with Have a Heart being treated as a new provider seeking funding, rather than an established provider.

“The initial response from them was that they don’t fund new initiatives,” he said.

“Somewhere, someone is thinking we’re a new initiative when we actually fall within the category of requiring further support to prevent us from closing down.”

Have a Heart distributes food through 18 pātaka kai, or community food stalls, across the Eastern Bay and operates food hubs in Whakatāne and Kawerau, with a new Ōpōtiki operation opening on September 28. Around 50 people attended the Ōpōtiki operation on its first day.

Barnard said about 300 households were supported each week, with around 100 people coming through the Whakatāne food hub each week.

The organisation has 18 volunteers managing its pātaka kai network, with food collected every Thursday and distributed throughout the Eastern Bay.

Barnard said its reach extended into rural communities, including Murupara.

“We’ve created an infrastructure in the community that can’t just be disregarded overnight,” he said.

He said users included elderly people, single mothers and people receiving benefits.

Have a Heart has four part-time paid staff, alongside volunteers who help run its operations.

Barnard said the organisation had worked to become more financially sustainable following the reduction in Covid funding.

It introduced a model allowing people to purchase food below supermarket prices, while also receiving free food through the New Zealand Food Network.

“We’re not there yet where we can say we are fully funded by selling food,” he said.

“We still need some funding to create sustainability.”

Barnard said losing the funding would make it difficult to maintain the organisation’s current model and keep prices below supermarket levels.

For now, Have a Heart will use money set aside for other projects to keep operating while looking for alternative funding and local support.

“To keep our doors open, we’re going to have to tap into funding that has been set aside for other projects,” Barnard said.

“And we would have to rely on other people to fund us, preferably locally.”

He said the organisation could continue operating at its current level for about six months, but longer-term funding would be crucial.

The organisation has changed from distributing set food parcels during Covid to allowing people to choose the food they need.

“Our model hasn’t created a dependency. It’s a model of dignity and choice,” Barnard said.

The Whakatāne food hub operated differently from a traditional food bank, volunteer Katrina Burns said.

There are no eligibility criteria to shop at Have a Heart, with customers able to buy groceries below supermarket prices.

For every $10 spent, customers receive three points, up to a maximum of 12, which can be exchanged for items from the free section of the shop.

Meat packs also come with free pre-packed vegetables.

“We sell all the essentials, everything you’ll need to feed the whānau and keep you going is in the shop,” Burns said.

Barnard said his priority was for Have a Heart to be recognised as an established food provider in the Eastern Bay and considered for funding.

He said if Have a Heart closed, there would not be another provider operating the same model across the Eastern Bay. Waiariki Whānau Mentoring operates a separate food-related service under a different funding arrangement, he said.

MSD said its Food Secure Communities programme was established as part of the Government’s Covid-19 response and was always intended to be time-limited.

MSD Māori Pacific and Communities general manager Serena Curtis said more than $230 million had been invested in national, regional and local food-support infrastructure and services since 2020.

As temporary Covid-19 funding reduced, MSD refocused the programme across a smaller number of providers while maintaining national, regional and local food-support infrastructure, she said.

Curtis said funding decisions were based on providers’ service delivery and reach, supported by monthly reporting and regional assessments of geographic and demographic coverage.

“No single factor determined funding outcomes,” she said.

Curtis said Have a Heart received $167,500 in 2022, followed by $20,000 in 2023/24, $10,000 in 2024/25 and $15,000 in 2025 through different food-support funding streams.

Have a Heart was not among the core Food Secure Communities providers listed for the Bay of Plenty in 2025/26.

The four Bay of Plenty community food providers listed are Tauranga Community Foodbank, Feeding Rotorua, Tokoroa Community Foodbank and Turangi Foodbank.

Curtis said MSD was unable to fund all food-support organisations across New Zealand.

However, she said Have a Heart continued to be supported through food distributed by MSD-funded national partners, receiving 107 tonnes from the New Zealand Food Network in the last financial year.

The Food Secure Communities programme continues nationally, with MSD allocating $15 million for 2026/27, including $6 million for up to 60 community food providers and $1.5 million for up to 32 regional food hubs.

The decision comes as the Eastern Bay continues to face high levels of socioeconomic deprivation. Stats NZ’s 2023 NZDep data shows areas of South Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki have high levels of deprivation, with some areas ranked NZDep10 – the highest level on the scale.

Barnard said he had asked MSD what assessment had been carried out before Have a Heart was excluded from the continuation of funding.

He said MSD had referred to maintaining existing national, regional and local food-distribution infrastructure, but he did not understand why Have a Heart was not considered part of that existing infrastructure.

“I wrote back and said that we’re not a new initiative,” he said.

“The first thing is just to be acknowledged as the food hub or the food provider in Eastern Bay.” Barnard said.

“And secondly, some consideration for funding, not just being disregarded because the taxpayers’ investment would go down the drain if we shut down.”