Third Year Wintec Communication students are connecting communities

Wintec third year Communication students are getting real-world experience working with Lisa Booth (centre) from Kete Kai.

 

Wintec third year Communication students run an ‘agency’ and work on projects to help business and community projects grow. This year, they are working alongside Hamilton-based Kete Kai, a meal delivery service with a kaupapa to end hunger in Aotearoa by 2030. Wintec student, Alex Paley writes about their experience.

The 16 year three Communication Wintec students have teamed up with Lisa Booth and the team at Kete Kai, to put their creative minds to work to come up with a marketing strategy on getting communities involved in the drive to end food insecurity.

Wintec “Agency Director” and tutor, Abby Dalgety, says “there’s a mix of different strengths and skills that will be put to task during this assignment. I am excited to see what the creative-minded students come up with.”

Food security, knowing when and what your next meal will be and having a full pantry to come home, is a privilege many kiwis wouldn’t think twice about. But when one in five children live in poverty in your home country, a demand for change is needed to shape and reform the way we view what’s happening right in our backyard.

That’s where Kete Kai comes in. A company dedicated to not only ending food insecurity that disproportionately affects the Māori and Pasifika communities within Aotearoa, but a goal to provide job opportunities and activate real change from within. Their kaupapa: to end food insecurity by 2030.

Among Kete Kai’s values are mana and koha, the custom in which gift-giving is reciprocal. They want to not only want to provide food to families at an affordable price, but to educate and set Kiwi families up for a sustainable and healthy food security. Kete Kai understands that those who are struggling do not always need monetary donations, but to be provided the resources and opportunity to pull themselves out from the unfair advantage they were systemically dealt with, to be taken on long term, rather than a short term, unsustainable fix.

This is the attitude needed to drive change within our community, for healthier, happier kiwis, but they can’t do it alone! The reality of a fed and fuelled Aotearoa starts with you. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, we mean it takes a community ecosystem to create equilibrium. To reach this goal, we need to create connections within our community.

The third year Wintec Communication students are eager to work with Kete Kai, to help them achieve their goal of a healthy and fed Aotearoa. Watch this space for some changes coming to Kete Kai and follow along on the journey to a healthier Aotearoa!

Find out more about studying Communication with Wintec School of Media Arts.

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