NOT A SAUSAGE
Pollies sit on hands as families struggle to put food on table
DESPERATE Gold Coast families are turning up to food banks in record numbers as cost-of-living pressures bite.
Volunteers said they are operating with “no support” from government.
But ordinary Gold Coasters are stepping into the breach, with one Southport mother starting her own fundraising campaign after witnessing a hungry family’s joy at receiving a simple packet of snags.
CHARITIES helping feed thousands of hungry Gold Coast families each month have challenged political leaders to open their eyes to the city’s worsening poverty crisis.
As Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls prepare to pork-barrel millions of dollars to win the coming state election, volunteers have revealed the community’s true struggle with cost-of-living pressures. They include:
● The number of families receiving help each week at one food service has gone from 50 five years ago to 600.
● Up to 100 people request food every day from one organisation.
● Some food pantries had cap numbers and turn families away, such is demand.
● The number of professionally qualified people seeking assistance is rising.
● Charities are not applying for government grants because of excessive red tape.
● Community groups themselves are struggling to stay afloat as cries for help increase.
“You see people come in that you wouldn’t expect to see here,” said Lindsay Burch, who founded Mermaid Beach’s Havafeed more than two decades ago.
“Women are coming in cars with children. Domestic violence is an issue. Pensioners are doing it really difficult ... there has been a jump in numbers. It’s more evident than ever.”
New Life Food Barn’s Pastor Phil Whiting said his Arundel charity was feeding 4500 people each month from Currumbin to Jacobs Well.
“It’s the single mums, the people who get sick, the businesspeople who make a bad investment,” he said.
“We’ve got a guy who had a golf membership at Emerald Lakes, an account manager who sold his practice, invested the money and lost it all. He’s delivering junk mail now.
“We have people living in back yards at Coomera. Another lady at Paradise Point got breast cancer, split from her partner and was living in a friend’s garage with her young kids.”
Mr Whiting said rising costs were also taking a toll on food services themselves.
“I know of two big ones that closed during the past two years,” he said.
“Our power bill alone is $6000 per quarter ... and we get no government support. Every Christmas I examine our books and ask ‘Can we keep going?’
“The services doing it hard are the ones giving the most benefit to the community. Putting food on a table can take domestic violence out of a home. It sends kids to school in a better frame of mind.”
John Lee, who founded Tweed and Coolangatta food service You Have A Friend a decade ago, would welcome the chance to show politicians the pressures on food services.
“If you’re doing this, you’re doing it on your own,” he said.
“There is no support from government. They don’t say ‘Let’s sit down and look at this problem’.
“It would be very good for them to look at where we’re all located and who’s doing what. It’s become an individual thing. We are providing a safety net for society but government isn’t hands-on in supporting services such as ours.”
Pastor David Nahi said demand at Vibe Care Community Pantry, which operates at Palm Beach and Tweed Heads, had risen from 50 families a week five years ago to 600.
“We’ve had to cap our numbers,” Pastor Nahi said.
“We’d like to provide for more but it would mean we’d need more storage space and equipment and we just don’t have the funding.
“We barely make enough to cover our overheads and it’s only the generosity of Vibe Church that ensures we survive.”
THE SERVICES DOING IT HARD ARE THE ONES GIVING THE MOST BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY NEW LIFE FOOD BARN’S PASTOR PHIL WHITING