Built and donated to the school by Otago Peninsula Lions last month, the pātaka kai is stocked with produce from the school’s gardens and eggs from the school’s chickens, which the children help to care for.
Portobello School teacher Cheryl Neill said the school was an Enviroschool and had quite extensive vegetable gardens, growing carrots, broccoli, lettuce, silverbeet, spring onions, beans, broad beans, strawberries and rhubarb. There were also six chickens on-site.
"The children take turns to collect the eggs and feed the chooks, and the gardens are a good way for them to learn about growing food," she said.
The pātaka kai was an ideal way to distribute the school’s produce among local families, and also gave people in the community a chance to share their excess fruit and vegetables with others.
"It’s a nice way for the community to share and support each other," she said.
Otago Peninsula Lions members John Ware and Graeme Atkinson were pleased with the positive response from the school community to the pātaka kai project.
"It is very nice to see the Portobello School community making such good use of it," Mr Ware said.
The Lions club had installed two other pātaka kai on the Otago Peninsula so far — at Macandrew Bay and Broad Bay, which were also working well. A fourth was planned for Harwood, he said.
The pātaka kai structures were built by club member and retired landscaper Grant Brewer, and then transported and installed by fellow club members.
"We are pleased with how well the project is going, and how much the peninsula communities are enjoying them," Mr Ware said.
