Civil Defence

In the event of a major emergency, such as a large earthquake or other Civil Defence situation, it is expected that every New Zealand family and every workplace will be self sufficient for at least 3 days.

We believe if every parent/caregiver takes responsibility for providing for each of their children, we can achieve an available food source for all children in the school quickly without having to rely on a committee to count, check and sort a common collection of food.
Therefore as a starting point we are asking every parent to fill something like an ice cream container with non-perishable items with a use by date no earlier than December 2010.

This should be sent with your child on the first day of school.
 
Each container of food will be returned at the end of the year. We will then ask again at the beginning of the following year, thus putting the responsibility on each family rather than a small group who are constantly having to monitor use by dates etc.
Another advantage is that the contents are “tailor-made” to your child remembering of course the school’s nut-free policy.
 
It must be remembered that no situation can ever be completely planned for and in the case of one complete class losing their food supply, food will need to be shared from other classes.
 
We expect many children would be retrieved in the first few hours of an emergency and if this was the case, left behind food boxes would be able to be redistributed across any people having to remain for an unforeseen longer period of time.
 
Full details along with suggested items for your container can be found here.