Our Foodbank has experienced a significant increase in demand over the past 18 months this is due to many contributing factors such as Job uncertainty, housing crisis and more than anything the continual increase in the cost of living. We are seeing more and more low-income working families needing our support and by accepting assistance with food contributes to them being able to eliminate further debt. This increase shows no signs of decreasing in the near future
We engage with whanau needing our support and cater each parcel to the size of the whanau and whanau immediate needs (such as nappies for babies and personal hygiene items for adolescents) Over the past 18 months our food parcels have become far more robust and we include hygiene packs consisting of items such as hand sanitiser, hand soap, disinfectant etc to mitigate the risk of the spread of viruses including COVID-19. We encourage support through other networks such as budgeting advise. From January 2022 until July 2022, we have given out over 1000 food parcels and helped over 1400 children and their whanau. Without generous donations such as yours we could not do the work we do.
We also work in partnership with Te Taiwhenua o Tamatea as part of the Covid -19 response hub in CHB, distributing food parcels to whanau who are self-isolating. CHB Foodbank are members of The CHB Food Secure network to create food security in CHB and sustainability for the future.