Woolworths Hornby will host its second annual “Chaos for Kairos” trolley dash on Wednesday morning, raising awareness and support for Christchurch-based food rescue organisation Kairos.
The event runs from 7 to 8am on 30 July at Woolworths Hornby, 17 Chappie Place, and follows the successful fundraising initiative held last year.
This year’s trolley dash was a prize auctioned at Kairos’ “Glammed Up” fundraiser in June, which raised more than $80,000. The winning bid of $1,200 came from Steve Burke, owner-operator of Elms Court Aged Care Group, who gifted the prize to one of his 180 staff members.
“Everybody’s doing it tough at the moment and we thought this would be a pretty cool reward for one of our team. Who doesn’t want free groceries! We were really chuffed to be able to help the amazing work that Kairos does and also to help our hard working team,” said Burke.
The lucky winner of the Elms Court staff prize draw was 28-year-old caregiver Shubham Singh.
“I was shocked when I heard my name come out in the prize draw. I’m really happy I can help my family by getting this chance. I hadn’t heard of Kairos Food Rescue before this happened but I think it’s great that they are getting food to people who need it,” Singh said.
Woolworths Director of Stores Jason Stockill said food rescue remained an important cause for the supermarket chain.
“Food rescue is a really important cause for us and it was pretty impressive (and yes, a tiny bit painful) to see how Freddie and his brother Monty had scoped out the store last year. They knew exactly what to get and where to get it, so good luck to them! We took the hit last year and we’re happy to come back for more in support of Kairos.”
Last year, Peter Hampton’s family scooped up more than $1,700 worth of groceries in 60 seconds after winning the inaugural event with a $1,000 bid.
Kairos Food Rescue is one of Woolworths’ many food rescue partners across New Zealand. The charity collects safe, surplus food and distributes it to community groups. In the 2025 financial year, Woolworths donated more than 4,000 tonnes of food—equivalent to over eight million meals valued at $18 million.
Woolworths has also provided over $1 million in food rescue funding grants during the past year, including customer donations, across about 30 food rescue partners nationwide.
