Hawke's Bay food banks in dire need

Frances Walshe (left) of St Vincent de Paul and Lynda Ellington of the Dannevirke Salvation Army. Photo / Christine McKay

The demand on our food banks "never stops", Frances Walshe of St Vincent de Paul says.

But Sunday's food drive has helped to fill shelves at St Vinnies and the Salvation Army - for now.

"There's a huge need and it's getting bigger all the time," Lynda Ellington, mission director of the Dannevirke Salvation Army, said.

"There have been so many times when we've run out of food this year and the number of mouths we're feeding just increases. Take this Friday, we had 18 mouths to feed for seven days and we're helping out bigger families for longer periods."

Lynda said even in a typical family of mum, dad and three kids there are huge pressures on the budget.

"Meat and fresh fruit and vegetables are just a luxury item," she said.

"Rents have gone up and this past week the weather hasn't been good so they haven't been shearing, so we're so fortunate to be able to replenish the food-bank shelves thanks to the generosity of the community."

Sunday's town-wide foodbank drive, organised by the Dannevirke Lions Club, was a mammoth task, co-ordinator Terry Hynes said.

"We had great community support from the fire brigade team, the rural fire force, St Johns and police, who were out on the streets in their vehicles with sirens blaring," he said.

Mindful of keeping another 2500 plastic bags out of circulation, the Lions didn't supply them with their letter drop this year, but residents were happy to hand over their donations by the armful and a new resident to Dannevirke, unaware of what was happening on Sunday, donated cash when he was told about the cause.

Terry said the Lions were also grateful to the owners of New World Supermarket and Shires Fruit and Vege Market, who provided advertising sponsorship for the food drive.