More families seek support as demand for food parcels soars

September 10, 2021

The Auckland City Mission has been struggling to keep up as the need for their services doubles.

Some Auckland families are struggling to stay afloat as the city carries the burden of the Delta Covid-19 outbreak. 

Auckland City Mission has been at the forefront of the impact as food insecurity soars. 

More than 6000 food parcels were given out by the charity, averaging at 2000 a week, more than double the City Mission's regular demand. 

"What this shows is the impact of Covid generally on people who just don't have money for food and actually the reality of food insecurity in New Zealand," Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said. 

"It's really had to know now what the normal is because if I take us back to February last year, what we're doing now is actually four times what we were doing then." 

Christmas is usually the Auckland City Mission's busiest time of the year, but lockdown demand isn't trailing that far behind. 

"We, in a two-week period, deliver 8000 food parcels. So this is really getting up there." 

Earlier in the outbreak, the Government announced a multi-million dollar support package for families hit hard by Covid-19 through the Ministry of Social Development and Whānau Ora.

While appreciative of the support, Robinson is asking the Government to act, not react when it comes to helping those in need. 

"We really need to regularly measure food insecurity; we've been saying for some time that it would be a really good idea to measure the adult population once a year and then the child population."

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