Rotorua Whakaroa's Elmer Peiffer. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rising food costs are affecting food providers with one seeing a 60 per cent increase in demand in one month and others seeing drastic drops in donations.
The crunch comes as annual inflation hit 6.9 per cent in the year to March 31, the largest movement in 30 years. Food prices have also climbed to a 10-year high, rising 7.6 per cent in March.
To help with rising costs, the Government has promised to give eligible low-to-middle income earners a $350 payment in three monthly instalments as part of an emergency $1 billion cost-of-living package.
Feeding Rotorua Charitable Trust trustee Ian Baker said the organisation would not be able to support those in need if food prices and demand continued to rise while donations continued to fall.
"We're finding it harder to find enough food ... there's not much food around."
The trust provided an average of 8000 hot meals and food parcels a month compared with 6000 a year ago.
"We're seeing a lot of desperate people in our community. It's the cost of living, everything else is going up [in price] as well as food, and wages aren't keeping pace," Baker said.
The food was mostly provided through donations, but the donations had decreased in the past year.
The trust tried to provide the same amount of food which meant it had to fund the difference to pay for more vegetables.
"We don't want to see it get any worse than it is now."
Rotorua Whakaroa's Elmer Peiffer said one to two tonnes less food was donated in the past year which he believed was because of shipping issues and product availability.
An average of about 200 families came to the free store, up from the 120 families two months ago.
Another 160 families were helped at Linton Park, Mangakino and Maketu.
Peiffer said there were often instances where people asked for products they didn't have, and it was often basic items like toilet paper and nappies.
"I fear for us, because if the prices continue to rise, there's going to be a lot more families dependent on services like ours, and if we don't have the food supply to cater to those larger numbers, what do we do?"
The store was set up as a top-up store and people chose what they needed, like at a supermarket.
"Some of the families, they're not living, they're just existing. Even the working poor ... they go to work to live."
Rotorua Salvation Army corps officer Hana Seddon said the foodbank had to absorb costs and "be wise" with purchases as food costs rose and "pray that the prices settled soon".
There had been a "noticeable decline" in food donations, however, the charity connected with new donors who had been working through their networks to provide extra support.
Meanwhile, there was a 60 per cent increase in demand for food support from April to May with one in 10 people getting help for the first time.
This was mostly for whānau with children but the number of single people seeking help more than doubled in May.
The cost of housing, petrol and food was already difficult, she said, and rising costs put "incredible strains" on people's finances.
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said it had spent 40 per cent more on food this financial year with the increase in food cost and demand.
"Our budget for food is being stretched."
Cheaper items had been occasionally difficult to source meaning the charity paid premium prices to keep the shelves and freezers stocked.
Most of the items it bought had gone up in price, including canned goods, rice, sausages, chicken, cereal, jam, and peanut butter.
The price of bulk canned goods had risen from 80c per can to $1.10 - a "substantial" increase when bought by the pallet load.
The foodbank was looking into a parcel menu redesign as a result.
It provided food to more than 1100 people last month, slightly up on the same time last year. A fifth of people sought help for the first time.
In the past month, there had been an increase in people who had no accommodation - sleeping in cars, on couches, in tents.
Some had nowhere to store food, some had gas cookers, some relied on public barbecues, and some had nowhere to cook if it was raining.
Under the Stars operations manager Laura Wood said demand for Thursday lunches had increased from an average of 30 people to 46 in May, year-on-year. The Saturday dinners increased from an average of 46 to 79 in that same time.
She had not noticed the cost of food impacting the service, as most of the food came through donations and Good Neighbour.
Food rescue service Good Neighbour Trust rescued less food but had seen higher demand.
It rescued 30,884kg of food in April this year compared with 39,112kg in April last year. But it provided food parcels for 43 families in April compared with 20 at the same time last year.
There were 353 requests in April, equating to 6828 meals for 491 adults, 39 teenagers, 215 children, 44 babies, and 98 pets.
The trust provided food from the rescue to 71 charities in the district and there was a waitlist of five new agencies. It also provided Covid Kai, for people self-isolating from Covid.
The drop in donations had been eased by bulk food supply from the New Zealand Food Network, a spokeswoman said.
She said it was believed there was less food coming in through the supermarkets due to logistics, manufacturing and supply disruption.
"With less food on the shelves, that, in turn, means less food coming through Food Rescue to us."
Police cordon on Rotorua's Edmund Rd following a hit and run incident. Video / Ben Fraser