Grow Te Puke: Cultivating a Resilient Kai Community

At the heart of Te Puke, Vector Group Charitable Trust is leading a grassroots movement for a more resilient, sustainable community. Flagship kai initiative Grow Te Puke (growtepuke.com) shows what happens when innovation, collaboration, and a passion for plants come together.

Mō te oranga o ngā taiohi me ngā kaitiaki e mahi ana mō rātou.
For the wellbeing of taiohi and the people who support them.

This kaupapa drives Grow Te Puke — more than one project, it is a living network of resources and opportunities to empower local growers and connect the community through food.

1. Empowering a new generation of growers

Grow Te Puke focuses on hands-on education — young people and mentors learning to cultivate their own food. Through workshops and interactive sessions, participants cover soil preparation, composting, pest management, and harvesting. The initiative provides knowledge and practical resources such as seedlings and tools. By fostering connection to land and kai, it builds self-sufficiency and wellbeing for taiohi.

2. Collaboration and community gardens

Collaboration is central. Grow Te Puke partners with schools, businesses, and community organisations to create and maintain shared gardens — hubs where people of all ages work together, share knowledge, and build relationships. Fresh, nutritious food and collective ownership follow.

3. Kai resilience in every home

Beyond community gardens, the vision is kai resilience in every household — support for whānau to establish māra kai at home, including container gardening, seed banks, and plant swaps so more people can grow what they eat.

4. A network of support and education

Regular events — markets, community feasts, crop swaps — let growers share produce and celebrate progress. Guest speakers and practical sessions keep learning going alongside the plants.

Visit Grow Te Puke to see how you can get involved.

Explore more: Grow Te Puke · Troppo · Crop Swap Te Puke · Kai resilience · Our projects