Donations helping foodbanks meet demand
FOOD banks across the region have had a spike in demand as families struggle with the financial strain of Covid19.
Salvation Army Queenstown director of community ministries Lieutenant Andrew Wilson said requests had increased by 600%.
Southland Food Bank chairman Peter Swain confirmed they were helping 10 families a day.
He expected a spike in demand when the Government’s wage subsidy ended.
‘‘The first two levels have been steady but we are expecting an increase when we get to Level 2.
‘‘When the wage subsidy ends, the income will drop and people will still have bills to pay. That is the time the foodbank will be very helpful.’’
Salvation Army Community ministries coordinator Brenda King said she had noticed an increase in the demand for parcels.
‘‘Normally we do about 25 to 30 parcels a week. With Covid19 we are doing more 50 to 60 [parcels] a week and delivering them.’’
Donations had also increased by about 20%.
‘‘Southland is very generous and usually comes to the party when it has a need.’’
Salvation Army figures document the number of food parcels distributed during the Covid19 in the whole South Island.
From March 9 to April 28, the organisation noticed an increase of 304% in demand, and about 5343 parcels were delivered last week.
Southlanders requesting parcels must go through its Emergency Management team.
Its staff do a needs assessment then send referrals to the food banks.
Duty controller Simon Mapp said they had received about 480 calls since the beginning of the Covid19 lockdown.
From that number, about 250 were in relation to help with food parcels.
Anybody who needed support should contact the centre, he said.
‘‘It’s important that our whole community pulls together to support each other, which is what Southland always does.’’
By yesterday, Emergency Management Otago had contacted about 2180 foreign nationals in Queenstown.
Their task was to call people who had sought help, to understand their welfare needs and their employment status, ask whether they intended to remain in New Zealand or return to their home countries and ask whether they needed help contacting home governments.
Most indicated they wanted to stay in New Zealand.
Thousands of snacks destined for Real Journeys international and domestic visitors in Milford Sound, about $15,000 worth, were donated to Queenstown Salvation Army food bank.
Mr Wilson said after seeing a 600% increase in requests for help since the lockdown began, it was getting harder to fill the food parcels.
“Initially it was largely foreign nationals needing help. What we’re seeing now is more New Zealand residents. We’re putting together 2030 food parcels every day (Monday to
Saturday) as well as additional emergency food packs and we’re now needing to ensure that our food parcels go to the highest needs first.’’
Up the road, demand for welfare packages in Waitaki seemed lower than in other parts of the lower South Island.
While statistics on the number of welfare and food packages distributed in Waitaki were not available yesterday, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said based on information from the district’s emergency management centre, demand appeared to be ‘‘not great’’, when compared to
other areas.
Oamaru Salvation Army Lieutenant Simon Montgomery could not confirm how many people had requested support with either welfare or food packages and referred comment to the organisation’s head office.
However, last month they reported a marked increase in demand for foodbank services. He added food bank stocks had been looking ‘‘pretty dire’’ until a donation of more than $1000 from the House of Breakthrough Church last month, which was matched dollarfordollar by Northside New World supermarket.
Donations continue to be sought and can be made at Countdown Oamaru.
Additional reporting Daniel Birchfield and Hugh Collins