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As winter brings higher household bills, vulnerable residents on the Hibiscus Coast are turning to food banks for support.
The Salvation Army food bank reports it is helping around 420 people each week, while Love Soup is providing support to about 253 people weekly.
Many community food banks are run in partnership with community churches, including the Salt Community Trust. With demand rising, its support now extends across a wider area of the Coast.
Salt general manager Nigel Debenham, says there is ongoing pressure on the food bank to keep up with demand. Financial donations and volunteers are needed more than ever, he says. Currently, Salt caps its support at 40 households.
“The need is massive, and it’s not going away anytime soon, it’s so expensive and (there’s) so much of it,” he says.
Salt supported more than 120 families throughout Covid with the help of government funding but had to scale back once that ended.
Nigel hopes that a restructure to the food bank will help more families access the support they need.
Organisations across the Coast including Salt Community Trust, Whangaparāoa Baptist Church and Love Soup all support each other to meet the growing demand.
Tracey Hoey, Mel Jack and Maggie Chan volunteer with Love Soup Hibiscus Coast.
“I was in tears the other day, I had three or four families that we couldn’t help,” Maggie says.
They expressed their gratitude to the other food banks in the area who stepped in and offered their support, ensuring that the families had enough to eat.
All the organisations encourage people on the Coast to check their websites and social media pages to find out how they can support their efforts.
