‘I can’t go on living on $22 a week’
The last time there was fresh produce on the table was more than two years ago.
After covering her basic expenses, Lynlie Beazley survives on $22 per week and sometimes she sleeps on an empty stomach.
The west Auckland resident described herself as the ‘‘face of poverty’’. ‘‘I don’t know how I live each day.’’
Beazley said she would not be able to survive without food parcels from The Salvation Army.
She is one of a growing number of people knocking on the charity’s door for help.
Her weekly benefit is about $236 but she has only $22 left after rent, expenses, and hire purchase payments. Beazley, a Housing NZ tenant, said this was enough for two bottles of milk, three loaves of bread and a tray of eggs.
And if the 41-year-old wants to live a bit recklessly, she buys tobacco – but mostly she smokes cast-off cigarette butts.
She walks everywhere because public transport is too expensive.
She gets her clothes from the piles of discarded items behind The Salvation Army in New Lynn.
Her shoes were given to her by a homeless person and she tops up her mobile phone only when friends or family help.
She does not have a landline or internet.
Previously, Beazley was living in a boarding house and most costs were included in the rent.
But Beazley took out a $1000 loan for a fridge and other basic necessities when she moved into her new home in March.
Her power bill is months in arrears and she does not have hot water. ‘‘I don’t know if I can go on any longer,’’ she said.
Salvation Army welfare national practice manager Jono Bell said they helped 10,555 individuals and families around the country with food parcels between April and June – an 8 per cent increase on the same period last year
Bell said Beazley’s situation was not uncommon. ‘‘For many people we see food parcels are a temporary measure to help them out in a crisis, such as losing their job, but we do have a number of clients who rely on food parcels for survival, because their income is not enough to meet their needs.
‘‘The rising cost of food on top of the increasing rents we’ve seen in the past few years have been a major factor in this.’’