For a pastor, a cell group or a ministry

How do we meet our neighbours without it being a sales pitch for church?

A weekly bag of fruit and veg. Anything a family does not eat goes to the local foodbank instead, or the foodbank receives the cash for it. The invite is one neighbour to another: I am doing this, do you want to as well? Packing if they want. No pressure. You are not indoctrinating, you are showing God's love for your neighbour.

Start a conversation
Hands sorting fresh produce on a hall table in the evening

I am doing this. Do you want to as well?

A weekly bag of fruit and veg. Anything your family does not eat can go to the local foodbank, or the foodbank can receive the cash instead.

  1. 1

    Someone on the round invites a neighbour

    Not a leaflet drop. A person who is already doing it.

  2. 2

    Ask a neighbour

    I am doing this. Do you want to as well? Anything your family does not eat goes to the local foodbank.

  3. 3

    How they sign up

    Packing if they want. Fun. No pressure. Nobody is signed up to anything else.

  4. 4

    Thursday or Friday drop

    Depending on the community, in the evening when people are home.

The church stays off the invite by default. Neighbours support a foodbank; they do not always support a church.

Does this sound like you?

Three moments, none of which is a service.

A neighbour at the door

I am doing this. Do you want to as well? Anything your family does not eat goes to the local foodbank.

A pack table, optional

They can help pack if they want. It is fun. There is no pressure and no follow-up ask.

A foodbank, not a logo

I do this because it helps the local foodbank. That is the whole reason you give.

What one neighbour says to another

I am doing this. Do you want to as well? It is a weekly bag of fruit and veg, and anything your family does not eat goes to the local foodbank instead, or they get the cash for it. I can show you how to sign up. You can help pack if you want, it is quite fun, but there is no pressure.

Ordering two and giving one away is not the default. It is expensive to ask a whole congregation to buy two. It is optional once someone has had a bag themselves, or where they are close enough to know the other household will want it.

The parts that come up in the room

Open the one that is your question.

We are a cell group, not the whole church The senior pastor does not have to run this.

A cell group or a single ministry can take a round on. It does not need to become a church-wide programme, and it does not need to go on the notice sheet to work.

  • The unit is about five people for about an hour a week. That is a small group, not a committee.
  • The invite comes from a person, not from the church, so it does not need the church's name behind it.
  • If the group cannot field five people one week, that week is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before anyone is charged.
We already have a foodbank This does not compete with it. It feeds it.

If your church already runs a foodbank, the fruit and veg families do not eat, and the leftover surplus, can go straight to it rather than somewhere else. The round becomes a supply line into work you already do.

  • Fruit and veg families do not eat, and the leftover surplus, go to the local foodbank as produce, or the foodbank receives the cash.
  • A week where nobody takes anything out and every bag is filled sends nothing, but that is highly unlikely.
  • The host that supplies the volunteers receives the host money. You can keep it or pass it on. That is your call.
Food safety, and who is responsible What we can say today, and what is not settled.

Produce is packed at the hall and delivered the same day, which is the shape of the operation. Insurance and food safety are backed by the distributor and aggregator of fruit and veg at the wholesale level.

  • Packed at the hall on a quiet weekday, delivered that evening. Nothing is stored overnight at the church.
  • Insurance and food safety are backed by the distributor and aggregator of fruit and veg at the wholesale level. The same providers supply the supermarket chains, who deal in pallet loads of fruit and veg every week.
  • Neighbour-facing copy does not carry the church's name unless you turn that on.

The packing hour

The unit of work, and the only thing you are actually committing to.

5 people at the table
1 hour on a quiet weekday
Weekly not another big day on the calendar

What a household pays

$30 a week Delivered, GST inclusive. A $20 bag plus $10 delivery.

Households pay for their own bags. Comparable with the supermarket: growers are not squeezed, the costs are transparent, some of it stays with the community, and people skip Saturday in the fruit and veg aisle. Collection is not generally offered, so $30 delivered is the price.

There is no host licence and no fee to run a round.

Is this something your church, a cell group, or a ministry could take on?

This is a scoping conversation, not a sign-up. Tell us roughly who you are and what your week looks like, and we will come back to you.

Start a conversation

Nobody is signed up to anything by sending this.

See the whole platform

One page for the pastor or elders who were not there Meet the neighbours. Not a sales pitch. Not a fundraiser first.

What it is

Households order a weekly bag of fruit and veg. Anything the family does not eat goes to the local foodbank instead, or the foodbank receives the cash for it. Someone already on the round does the inviting: I am doing this, do you want to as well. They show the neighbour how to sign up. Packing if they want, no pressure. They do not mention the church. Thursday or Friday drop.

What it is not

Not a cut-price shop. Not a guarantee of a bag every week. Not a $10 shipping discount, which does not exist. Not a promise your congregation will grow. What we have seen is a night-time packing group that people outside the church come into.

Cost

Households pay $30 a week delivered, GST inclusive, for their own bags. There is no host licence and no fee to run a round, so there is no host cost to approve.

Risk

A short week is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before anyone is charged. Neighbour-facing copy does not carry the church's name unless you turn that setting on, and we would leave it off.

Who is liable

Insurance and food safety are backed by the distributor and aggregator of fruit and veg at the wholesale level.

Decide

Whether to approach this as the church, as a cell group, or not at all. No software contract is required to have that conversation.

The same providers supply the supermarket chains, who deal in pallet loads of fruit and veg every week.

Questions

The ones that come up in the room.

Is this just another fundraiser?

No. It is a weekly bag of fruit and veg that people were going to buy anyway, and anything their family does not eat goes to the local foodbank instead. The invite is one neighbour to another. Fun, no pressure, and the church stays off it.

Should we order two and give one away?

Not as the default. It is expensive to ask a congregation to buy two. It is optional once you have had a bag yourself, or where you are close enough to know the other household will appreciate it.

Will this grow the congregation?

We do not know. What we have seen is that people outside the church come into a packing group. That is as far as it goes.

Does the neighbour see the church's name?

No. You do not mention the church. You say you do this because it helps the local foodbank. The name is off by default.

Does the pastor have to run it?

No. A cell group or a single ministry can take it on.

How does the bag compare to the supermarket?

Comparable. Supermarkets squeeze growers on price and we are transparent about our costs. Some of it stays with the club or the community, and neighbours skip Saturday in the fruit and veg aisle.

What if we do not make the minimum orders?

If the week is short of orders, it is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before anyone is charged.

What if I do not want to order every week?

You can skip a week, pause, or stop altogether.

What if our organisation wants to keep the money?

The host that supplies the volunteers receives the host money. You may keep it or pass it to the foodbank. Produce is the part more likely to go to the foodbank.

What if we cannot field volunteers one week?

Five people, one hour, is the unit. If the week is short of volunteers, it is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before anyone is charged.

Is there a $10 shipping code for people we refer?

No. There is no such code.

Can we put our church on the public sign-up page?

You can, and by default you should not. Neighbours support a foodbank; they do not always support a church. The public pages currently still print the host name, and that is a bug we are fixing rather than a feature to lean on.

Does this take money that would have been a donation?

It is a purchase, not a donation. People buy fruit and veg anyway, and a cash gift has a GST advantage that this does not.

Start a conversation

Tell us who you are and roughly what your week looks like. We will come back to you.

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