Nominating deserving local people for Koha

If you're reading from around the world, you may never have even heard the term koha. Koha is a maori word meaning - gift, present, offering, donation, contribution - especially one maintaining social relationships and has connotations of reciprocity....it is a beautiful concept that is so aligned to paying-it-forward.

Now all our readers have this context, what's the Koha dinner? The Koha dinner is The Atrium Cafe's, in Otumoetai Tauranga, way of giving back to those in need in their local community. They encourage their customers to nominate local people they know who are doing it tough, so they can receive restaurant quality meals and have a night off from worrying about what and how they're going to put food on the table for their families on a monthly basis.

It's not just The Atrium being generous though, they've partnered with GoGenerosity to allow cafe customers to pay-it-forward on top of their everyday cafe bills. These pay-it-forward donations are pooled together and used to help pay for meals at the Koha Dinner and get restaurant quality meals to people who can't attend the dinner in person.

It's incredible to see what an important community event the Koha Dinners have become. We already have so many stories of how local families and individuals in need have been impacted. These meals don't just bring food for hungry tummy's, they also help bring joy,  give people a sense of dignity, encourages them and lend a hand to get people out of the situations they are in. These meals truly re-inforce strength and resilience in families going through tough times.

Because there are so many stories of impact from the Koha dinners we've separated a few of the best stories out and created a clickable list below.

• There was a family of 11 there where the kids had obviously never eaten out before, and they got a special chance to sit down and enjoy a restaurant quality meal together.
• A mother of 7 who lost her husband just before lockdown loved being able to go out with her kids.
• Parents with a 6-week old baby suffering from a rare metabolic disorder were able to relax and enjoy the good times, in between having to feed their little one every 3 hours, otherwise risking a coma or worse. 
• An elder woman received a meal because she recently had surgery for arthritis and struggles with daily tasks like opening cans and often drops things. 

Enjoy the read and please pop in to the Atrium and pay-forward your little bit to help local people enjoy a meal.

Enjoy the read and please pop in to the Atrium and pay-forward your little bit to help local people enjoy a meal.

You can be involved in paying-it-forward for a better future in other places too! Check out who our other business partners 👇 and see if you can spot your favourite local.