More people relying on food bank after quakes
Hard-up residents flocked to the Christchurch City Mission’s food bank this year as the ‘‘post-earthquake honeymoon period’’ wore off.
The mission handed out more than 1000 more food parcels in 2012 than it did last year, and demand has increased over the holiday period.
Social services manager Gray Crawford said the mission had 98 visitors on Christmas Eve, and people had been queuing in the streets.
The makeup of visitors had changed dramatically this year, he said, as ‘‘people who once had money in the past’’ visited the mission for help.
‘‘We’re seeing a different demographic this year. There are lower and middle-class people, and people who would have never thought they’d have to come in to the City Mission for food, but they’ve lost their jobs or their homes and now they have to.’’
The number of visitors with mental health issues, anxiety disorders and depression also increased this year, Crawford said, and he believed financially well-off people who did not put money aside before the quakes were also behind the rise.
‘‘The disaster happened and they lost their job and home and their financial situation changed, and they have no nest egg to fall back on,’’ he said.
‘‘We got the sense of it in previous years, but it has got worse this year.
‘‘The honeymoon period is definitely over post-earthquake, and this is where it’s hitting hard.’’
Crawford said the mission was keeping up with demand through the generosity of the public.
‘‘It’s been fantastic. It always comes at the eleventh hour, but we’ve come to expect that.’’