King Country food banks anticipate more demand

With economists predicting substantial rises in the cost of living as the year wears on, King Country food banks appear nervous over what may lie ahead.

ASB economist Mark Smith has predicted price rises this year could see households spend on average an extra $150 per week.

Te Kūiti Korowai Aroha Charitable Trust chair Antonio (Shane) Mangioni-Ashby is not surprised at the prediction.  

“What always seems to happen when the benefits are increased is that rents and everything else seems to go up as well. It also seems to apply to the home heating subsidy; power goes up but so does the cost of electricity,” Shane said.

“Here in Te Kūiti and surrounding areas people are struggling, not just people on benefits. Many are working with families and it’s just so expensive for them. If you have a job, you still have to pay rent or a mortgage.”

Shane said people who came to Korowai for assistance needed a referral. “We are not a supermarket where they can come every week.”

However, multiple agencies were entitled to provide food bank referrals which sometimes made accountability harder.

“You can get it from your doctor, medical practitioner from the community house, from social welfare. But if they get one every week, we don’t ask questions because we believe that those professional organisations are helping them with their budgeting.”

Aside from a spike during December, numbers of food parcels have been steadily growing.

The trust issued 58 in November; 186 in December; 69 in January; 87 in February and 87 in March.

The size of parcels varies widely – from those for just one person to those which feed families of up of 10.

Isolation parcels are much larger than standard ones.

Shane said the trust’s costs were underwritten by MSD because its Rora St shop would never generate enough to keep the foodbank running.

“It’s costly, from $150 to $120 for standard parcel, while an isolation parcel can go up to $180. But thank goodness fewer [isolation parcels] have been needed of late.”

Shane said demand had increased since the Covid era.

“Covid was huge; it nearly broke us, but we were able to get support through MSD. But it caused immense stress on people here. During the lockdowns many people were unable to visit the food banks and it was also difficult to get food out to them. But now food costs have increased as well.

“We stopped giving out potatoes because it was costing us $20 for a sack of 10kg.

“Trustees met and decided instead of potatoes to pack rice and instead of fresh vegetables we went into frozen mixed vegetables. We look for the best value for money. Though we love to shop locally, sometimes it is too expensive to do so.”

Shane inherited the mantle of running the Korowai trust food bank from his late parents, Sarah and Charlie Ashby, who were always active in community work.

“Mum was a JP and worked for women’s refuge and she and Charlie worked for victim support. Dad, who worked for railways 40-odd years, always supported mum’s community work.”

Shane left Te Kūiti many years ago but moved back five years ago to take care of his mother following his dad’s death. His job before that was KiwiRail’s national manager for scenic excursions.

“Now my heart is to follow on and do mum and dad’s work [looking after the community]. It’s a nice job, because you meet so many nice people doing it.”

The op shops are the perfect complement to the food parcels. If people do not have something but have no money, Shane would rather provide it from the shop than refuse.

“It’s not even just getting a job because that’s so hard now. It’s getting people so that they don’t get to the point of feeling as if they are not needed.

“If we can help them see they are needed, and that might be giving them food so they can cook for their families, then so be it.

“Once you feel needed and valued you no longer feel alone, or depressed, suicidal or any of those things. And you can then start building a life that makes you happy.”

Te Kūiti food bank manager and Journey Church pastor Terry Bradley also expects financial conditions will deteriorate.

“I think it is going to get worse before it gets better. So, we are always open to any offers from people who would like to help by donating food.”

Terry hopes food prices will become a political issue in a positive way in the lead up to the election.

“I hope the economy in general will pick up, enabling food to be more affordable for families.

“If businesses and everything else is thriving that will take care of the problem, but if it isn’t then prices are likely to go up as purchasing power reduces.”

Events have conspired to make it harder for families to put food on the table, with some blaming rising interest rates, lack of supermarket competition and the weather events whichhave damaged agricultural production.

Te Kūiti Food Bank has maintained a level of about 20 food parcels a week, each one containing about $150 worth of food.

“We monitor it and make sure people are getting support beyond just the food parcel,” Terry said.

He thinks demand may rise as the country heads into winter, but he reiterates his view that the way the Government handles the business side of the economy will be crucial to how deep the needs become.

“Confidence [in business] is essential, if the opportunity is taken to enact good policies we will do better across the economy. But if this does not happen then I expect demand to continue to climb.”

However, he sees no reason to be overly pessimistic.

His hope is that sensible policies will lift employment levels so people are better able to find work to look after themselves.

“Covid was obviously an extra thing on top of all that, but this is something different. We are going to need to throw everything at it.”

People can donate to the Te Kūiti Food Bank from 11am to 1pm, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 Sheridan St, Te Kūiti.

Meanwhile, demand for food parcels in Taumarunui is “crazy”, according to Terri Leveillee, who is the board chair of Taumarunui Womens Refuge which runs Taumarunui food bank.

“For the financial year ended March 31, we did 200 more parcels than for the previous year. The demand is big for essential things, staples [bread pasta and tinned foods].

“One problem is that rural towns have limits on what you can purchase at the supermarket. We have clients with big families, but we can’t purchase enough bread to feed them for breakfasts.

“At the supermarket you can’t buy all the quantities you want of things like pasta or bread, and that’s just hard to manage.

“We like to give out fresh vegetables, but they are not always available. There are a lot of people out there who grow for their own needs, and I’d like to say that if they have excess, give it to the food bank because we can get it to the people who need it.

“If you have spare silver beet or tomatoes, give them to us. Pumpkins seem to be coming in at the moment and they’re great. A large pumpkin can feed two families.”

Not counting crisis deliveries, the food bank generally sent out 12 food parcels a day, for the three days a week.

They are open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and have been doing about 35 parcels a week.

Terri said going into winter, with all the talk of worsening economic conditions, she and her colleagues were feeling a bit nervous.

People can drop off donations either to the food bank or to women’s refuge (57 Miriama St).

Food parcels given out from the Te Kūiti Food Bank over the past eight months (with those for Covid patients in brackets), were: August, 103 (28), total 131; September, 115 (5) 120; October, 79 (6) 85; November, 72 (30) 102; December, 138 (27) 165; January, 78 (12) 90; February, 66 (9) 75; March, 68 (3) 71.

Due to administration changes, Ōtorohanga Support House was unable to comment on current demand for food parcels.