Kai and Connection

Next time you are passing through Shannon, make sure you visit the Shannon Kai Hub. It's an amazing space for physical and social support.

The social supermarket sees an average of 200 people collect the rescued food each week. It’s a ‘help yourself’ system, allowing recipients to select the items they want. It’s also anonymous.

“All we ask is how many people they are feeding,” says Community Innovator Navigator Sharon Williams. “We have removed barriers so people can come without restraint. We track the weight of goods and number of people fed to please our funders.”

Next to the Kai Hub is an Op Shop with some of the cheapest and best second-hand clothing and items you’ll find. There's also an art gallery, selling original artwork and creations from local artists.

Their aim, Sharon says, is for better living through kai and connection to the Shannon community. Over 20 volunteers support the different Hub spaces. Their passion for the project and for Shannon makes it a great place to be.

Bishop’s Community Development Trust backed the dreams Sharon and her team had for their community. We support their work through the provision of administration and payroll, accounting support, fundraising, employment and human resource oversight, strategy and governance advice and communications and reporting. We are so proud of their work and the amazing gift it is to the Shannon community.

In the early stages before sustainable funding streams were secured the cost of BCDT’s start-up support to the Shannon Kai Hub is estimated to be $18,000-$20,000.

Giving to BCDT will help us provide support to groups like it. For large one-off off gifts, please call Matt Crawshaw on 020 4116 1128 and for credit card donations please use the donate link below