Foodbank's cupboards stripped bare

Desperate economic times have stripped the cupboards bare at Featherston Foodbank.
Six people, mostly families, have been turned away in the past two weeks because there is no food to give them.
Among those requesting food parcels was a heavily pregnant woman with two young children but she had to leave empty-handed last week.
The situation is "gut-wrenching", Presbyterian Support Central communications co-ordinator Liz Inch said. "She was nine months pregnant and she had small children. We had to turn her away because the cupboard was bare. It's horrible, isn't it?
"The people that are accessing these food parcels are often just trying to feed their family and they often feel embarrassed about going for help."
The social services agency, through its Family Works brand, runs the foodbank through Turret House in Featherston. Demand has more than doubled, with 88 food parcels given out so far this year.
Last year 74 parcels were given out across the whole 12 months.
"It's more than doubled and we're not at the end of the month yet. It's really dire.
"It's the hard, cold reality of a slowing-up economy. Wages haven't gone up but costs have and money is not going far enough. It's a pretty sad state of affairs people shouldn't have to be asking for food."
The service usually has sufficient food gathered through a yearly drive in December in conjunction with police, Fire Service, ambulances, Lions and Rotary clubs, but with more than five months to go until another collection the supply has been completely exhausted.
"Usually that gives us enough food to last for a year but we've come to July and we've run out.
"What we're seeing is the social impact of food prices and fuel prices going up. Our communities are actually suffering."
A service was set up in Featherston because people in the town do not have the resources to visit a foodbank in Carterton, she said. It is usually open for three days a week and is entirely staffed by volunteers, but with increased demand is considering extending that to five days. "But we can't do that without the food."
Miss Inch said to fill the need in the interim she was able to source five food parcels from the central office and on Friday, Wellington accounting firm KPMG set up a collection box in its office.
The food is earmarked for Featherston, she said.
But to ensure sustainability, she said the community must pull together and she asks that businesses and corporate organisations help with donations if they can.
"It's the local community who really need to get in behind it. This box here (in KPMG) will help get the cupboard full but it's the sustainability of it.
"We need to find a way in which we can gather in food to ensure that the foodbank is sustainable because the problem is not going to go away. It's only going to get worse."