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Ken & Ko. provide a free home-made hot meal to 100-150 homeless people, every week.

  • Ken & Ko. handing over to another Group

      11 August 2021

    To our regular Give-a-Little donors, *please cancel* your automated donation payments with immediate effect.

    After 41 weeks, serving 6150 free meals to those in need, Ken & Ko. will pass the baton on to another volunteer group to provide the Auckland Central City Street Meal on a Tuesday evening. Ken & Ko.'s last meal service will be on Tuesday 17th August.

    We want to thank our volunteers, Jonathan, Catherine, H., Anna, William, Jack, and several others here and there, for turning-up and helping us serve the meals. We also want to thank the Sunday Blessings Group, who helped us get started, mentored us at times, and assisted us in successfully applying for some Council funding. Thanks too, to St Kents who assisted with a regular supply of bread rolls, and other donations including second-hand sleeping bags, socks, and hats. And we also want thank you all, our Give a Little donors, for all your support both financial and personal. You have been our cheer leaders, and we could not have done it without you!! Thank you!

    We have got so much out of this experience; we look forward to doing more in the future. We will miss interacting and supporting our guests. They have really inspired us. Helping them has been a pleasure. Their gratitude, at times, has been overwhelming. And, for now, it’s time for us to take a break. Some stats:

    $19,402.91 spent to deliver 6150 meals,

    $3.15 per three course meal, typically - Soup, Cheese/Garlic Oven Hot Bread Rolls, Egg Bread Rolls, Ambrosia Desert + orange drink.

    $2,500 Council Grant received – thank you

    $2,220 Give a Little Donations received via 79 donations – thank you!!

    We will now arrange the closure of our Give a Little Page.

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  • 100:10 Club Update

      15 July 2021

    To our precious donors, thank you for your ongoing trust in us and support of what we are doing to help others in need. K&K are proud to say we have not missed serving a meal on a Tuesday night since our first meal-service on 10th Nov 2020. This has only been possible due to your financial and personal support of us and this initiative. Ken's soup, or hot pot meals, continue to hit the spot. We now serve oven hot garlic and cheese bread which is a hit. And continue the egg sandwiches. Deserts - the favourite is still Ambrosia, with donut cake and whipped cream a close second. Many have poor oral health and so soft food is best. Occasionally we have fewer attend ~80. And occasionally we are overwhelmed by how many attend ~150... and worry we won't have enough food! Most often we continue to see ~100+. We now buy take away containers and wrapping so that we can provide any left over food (which we now deliberately prepare) for many to have seconds and/or take some away for a meal the next day. We have also been supplied, and have purchased some, 2nd hand sleeping bags, socks, hats, and tarpaulins for those that are particularly exposed and in need of immediate warmth. Our dog Ellsey is a core part of our team, she loves the people and they really love her. The main thing, that is so hard to convey, is the level and depth of appreciation we receive from those that attend. It is incredibly humbling. - We currently have 25 in our 100:10 club. If you have networks you think may be interested in joining, please let them know about this opportunity to give a little. In the meantime we are working with Council for some financial assistance to help us bridge the gap. Thank you to everyone!!!!! x.x.x.

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  • 100:10 Club Update

      16 May 2021

    We are so very appreciative to those that have signed up to donate $10 a month to help K&K, Ken and Karen, to keep feeding homeless in Central Auckland City every Tuesday night at 8pm outside the Auckland Library. Thank you! We have added a number of photos to the Photo Gallery, so that you can see how your money is used. You can see the 50lt pot of soup on the stove, desert cooling on the bench, then the food and supplies lined up ready to load, followed by one car boot loaded - with Ellsey our dog in the back seat (along with the orange drink dispenser). Once loading starts, Ellsey gets in the car and refuses to get out - just in case she might get left behind. There is a shot of a few of the guests surrounding the back of our cars to help us unload, and there are a few photos of service underway including our special volunteers Catherine and Jonathon (Uni Students, that keep coming every week to help serve the queue), and of course notice Ellsey overseeing proceedings. We hope you feel good about helping our local community in this tangible way. It is incredibly rewarding for us, and again we thank you for helping us. x.

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  • 100 donors, $10 per month

      7 April 2021

    100 donors, donating $10 per month each, will fund a weekly free home-made hot meal for 150 homeless people.

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  • 22 meals, 3300 people fed, and the gratitude is overwhelming

      7 April 2021

    Hi. Ken and I (Karen) have been providing a street-meal for 150 homeless Aucklander's for 22 weeks now.

    We (Ken and Karen) are now more committed, more than ever, to be able to continue this weekly service permanently.

    The need to help those struggling is deep, and the personal reward we have gained from doing this one simple act of service has been really life-changing, in a really good way.

    The appreciation and gratitude we receive from hungry people, so grateful for the respectful assistance of a hot, home-made, nutritious meal is frankly - overwhelming.

    The age of our guests ranges from late teens, to elderly. Men and Women. Many are sleeping rough, some have temporary accommodation. Some come regularly, and others just need help for one or two weeks to bridge them through a crisis.

    We relate to all of them. And a big part of the joy, has come from the engagement with really nice people who have hit hard times. Most of our guests would not choose to be relying on such a free service, and they are incredibly thankful for it.

    We have found the best balance between cost, nutrition, food the guests enjoy, and our own ability to prepare, transport, and serve this meal every single week.

    We have been largely funding it ourselves, so now we need to come out of our shells and ask for others to help us financially if they can.

    We are currently, largely, funding this ourselves. The Give A Little donations received to date have really helped us to keep going while we have been learning and coming to grips with what we have got into. Thank you!

    We have just updated our Give a Little Story. And will now focus on seeking 100 people willing to provide $10 per month, which would really help us to sustainably provide this weekly service into the foreseeable future.

    We would now really appreciate your help to please share this Give-a-Little link with your networks so that we might hit our goal of creating the 100-10 club i.e. 100 people donating $10 per month so that we can feed 150 homeless people a home-made hot meal once a week - at 8pm, every Tuesday outside the Auckland Public Library.

    Thank you!

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  • The hungry people keep coming

      16 February 2021

    Tonight, Auckland is in Level 3 Lock-down. We are an essential service and could provide tonight's meal by following the required operating guidelines. What we found - is that we had approx. 80 people come for a meal. With the extra food we had, we were able to pack sandwiches and soup for some to take another meal away with them. Some were stressed by the lock down. Others were handling it ok. The regulars know us now, and they greet us with such joy and consideration. They were so happy that we turned up tonight. The amount of appreciation they always express to us is overwhelming sometimes. When we arrived tonight, there appeared to be only 10 people waiting for us but within 10 minutes the queue was 50+ and they kept coming. The guests 'appear' and once fed, 'disappear' again - melting back into the city streets. We know we are feeding genuinely hungry people, that so appreciate the unconditional help, decent food, and friendly conversation. Ellsey, our dog, is a key part of the team - engaging with the guests too. They love her. Numerous of the men always help us set up for the meal service, and pack down at the end. One of the guests always opens the service with a karakia/prayer. The council's rubbish collector comes every week, and helps us collect rubbish (disposable plates etc) and takes the couple of bags of rubbish away in his truck at the end of the night. The atmosphere is always warm and friendly. And someone plays music which adds to the atmosphere. They know Ken is the 'boss' (the Dad), and that Karen is the 'real boss' - ha ha! (The Mother). The volunteers that help us serve the meal are 4-5 Uni students that keep turning up and getting stuck in - Ken serving soup, 1-2 students serving sandwiches, Karen serving desert, and 1 student serving cold drinks. We all help collect rubbish at the end, as do the guests too. Everyone makes sure we leave the area spotless so that there is no problem returning to it again. To those of you who have donated to help us keep providing this service, simply, thank you.

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  • Over 500 meals provided in 6 weeks of operation

      10 December 2020
    Main image

    We started providing an evening meal for the homeless, every Tuesday at 8pm, on 3rd November.

    In the first six weeks of operation, we have now provided approx. 500 meals to our Central City homeless. The level of gratitude and appreciation we have received from our guests has been overwhelming, and deeply rewarding. Your help to do this is invaluable. We thank you for your support.

    Ongoing, we would welcome weekly $5 contributions - from as many people as can contribute - to help us continue to provide this meal service every Tuesday night, no matter what. 100% of this funding is used to purchase the ingredients required for us to make and serve these meals. We can provide this meal for ~100 people with just $200-300 each week. We are now working with food suppliers to secure food donations and/or food at cost-price. We are not affiliated with any organisation. We have no administrative overheads. We supply our time for free. We are simply volunteering to help some of our street people. And in the meantime, we are funding any shortfall in buying the required ingredients.

    A meal consists of hot and nutritious food, that is easy to eat for those with gum/teeth issues e.g. meat/pasta dish, protein rich sandwiches, and a yummy desert such as Ambrosia.

    The attached picture is of Ken (blue jacket), with two student volunteers serving the meal on 1st Dec 2020. We are getting to know our guests. The atmosphere is extremely positive, and many pitch in to ensure everyone gets to enjoy a nice meal. Cleanup is easy, with many helping to set up and pack down.

    Thank you in advance, for your ongoing support.

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    • 11/12/2020 by Lesley

      So proud of what you are doing!