Tomorrow evening (October 29), staff from Greenlight Innovations, volunteers from local Rotary groups and trainees from Koha Kai will be delivering desserts to people’s doors throughout Invercargill and Bluff to raise money for the elderly.  

Now in its sixth year – the altruistic event called ‘Pavluber’ – a play on the words ‘Pavlova’ and ‘Uber’ – was started by James McRobie and Liv Cochrane.

It only happens once a year and is always aimed at giving back to the community.

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Greenlight Innovations have since organised the annual fundraising event for last three years, working with local charity Koha Kai, which makes all of the desserts. 

Pavluber organiser and Greenlight Innovations director Leon Hartnett said they just loved the work that they did with Koha Kai, and the event had “become a favourite for many people”.

“Last year over 200 desserts were sold, and we are hoping to sell out of all 250 desserts this year,” he said.

In previous years, Koha Kai have used the money raised from Pavluber to provide lunches to school children, but as the organisation was selected for the government ‘Healthy School Lunches Programme’ this year – the team at Koha Kai decided to help the local elderly this year instead.

Koha Kai Enterprise 2IC Sammii Lee said the funds raised would be used to put on a Christmas feast for the elderly and local kaumātua in the community, to not only treat them to some delicious food but also give them a sense of community and connection this festive season.

“A lot of them may not have a lot going on [at Christmas] time… their family might be elsewhere,” she said.

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“We just want to get them out and do something fun for them.”

“It’s our way of giving back.”

Free tickets for the dinner will distributed via local community groups that work with the elderly, as such organisations would have a good understanding of who would benefit from the Christmas dinner, Ms Lee said.

Koha Kai chefs are busy preparing the 250 desserts right now and Mr Hartnett said there were still some available to order. 

He said around 190 had been ordered so far.

However, orders close later today, so get in quick if you want to secure a delicious dessert to your door.

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Desserts are $10 each with the options being: Pavlova no topping (gluten free), Pavlova with berry topping, Raspberry & White Choc Cheesecake, Banoffee Pie, Baileys Chocolate Mousse and Traditional Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing. They will be delivered between 7pm and 9pm tomorrow (October 29), with the delivery area covering Invercargill city boundaries as far south as Clifton as, well as Bluff.

Mr Hartnett said you could also choose to gift a dessert to a family in need. 

“As an early Christmas present, if you would like to purchase a dessert or three for a worthy family, we have partnered with The Spirit Army and Gerry Forde. Simply select the Spirit Army option on the order form and we will deliver it to a family that need support.”

Extra desserts can be purchased direct from Koha Kai at Elmwood Gardens on Thursday evening.

For more information or to pre order go to Greenlight Innovations page on Facebook.

Koha Kai will receive 100% of the profits from Pavluber to then put towards the Christmas dinner.