The cupboards are desperately bare at the Salvation Army's Whangarei food bank, and the organisation is appealing for urgent donations as demand for the service soars.
Food bank supervisor Gay Matoe said she was in tears by Friday afternoon. She had given out 32 food parcels that day and stock levels were the lowest they had been during her four years in the role.
"We've literally got nothing," she said. "We're basically out of all the basics."
Four years ago about 20 parcels would be considered a busy day, whereas in the last month about 30 was the norm. Not only was the number of clients increasing, so was the complexity of their cases, Ms Matoe said.
"There's a lot more first-time clients, they have bigger families and there's a higher cost of living. The women in the front office get three people a day looking for housing assistance. We have more homeless people and because of [poor] housing people are getting sicker ... The food bank is just a small part of it."