Record Numbers Strip Foodbank Bare
24 March 2010

Food supplies at Downtown Community Ministry’s Foodbank are struggling to cope with the record number of people seeking assistance.

Over 40 people received food parcels on Monday in one of the busiest afternoons the Foodbank has known.

At 1:30pm when the Foodbank opened 20 people were waiting to be interviewed for food assistance.

“Despite generous support for the Foodbank this year, our shelves are once again empty with demand totally exceeding supply,” says DCM Director Stephanie McIntyre.

More food is desperately needed to meet the demand.

Items such as tinned meat or stews, packet meals, cereals, tinned vegetables and fish is most needed.

High demand is also being felt at Wellington’s Night Shelter.

Figures from January through March this year at the Night Shelter have increased 54 per cent over the same period last year.

“The Night Shelter records show huge demand for beds from men aged as young as 18 right through to 76.”

The figures from the Foodbank and the Night Shelter confirm that there is a very large number of single people in Wellington city who are struggling to meet basic needs.

Last week, in an oral submission on Councils proposed housing policy, Stephanie asked Council to acknowledge the housing crisis for single people living alone.

The Housing Upgrade Project will decrease the number of single person dwellings by 251.

“Research shows this group of people as most represented on Council waiting lists yet the ability for Wellington to house them is decreasing.”

ENDS

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