Rotorua Salvation Army needs help to feed the hungry

Demand from desperately needy families has stretched the Salvation Army to the point where staff are begging supermarkets for food with which to fill the foodbank's empty pantry.
In recent years, demand on the Rotorua service's foodbank more than doubled with 947 food parcels given out last year, compared with 406 in 2005.
Already, this year, volunteers and staff have given out 335 food parcels to needy families.
Manager of community services Graeme Stark said while in the past most of their clients were beneficiaries, they were now seeing more lower-income families seeking support as budgets were being stretched to the limit.
"We are seeing more working families which was rare in the past," he said.
He blames the current state of the economy, the recession and constantly rising food, power and petrol costs as the reason for so many extra families seeking help.
"Everything is going up. When petrol goes up so does everything else. People just aren't coping," he said.
With winter here, Mr Stark said he feared the problem would only get worse for many struggling families.
"It's very concerning. My biggest concern is people will have their power cut off," he said.
Times were so hard, some families couldn't even afford to buy nappies for their toddlers, Mr Stark said.
"I know of one family who cut up old flannelette sheets to use for cloth nappies because they just can't afford nappies," he said.
"People are trying to make do with what they have got but they are really struggling for the basics. People are on the bones of their backside through no fault of their own."
In the past two weeks, he has written to Rotorua supermarkets asking for donations of supplies, with Countdown in the Central Mall answering the call with 10 large boxes of food. However, boxes left at supermarkets for people to leave donations in had yielded very little in recent months, Mr Stark said.
"We normally empty the bins once or twice a week but we only got four tins in the past four weeks," he said.
"We know it's starting to affect people right across the board now.
"It's only going to get worse," he said.
Many people were too proud to ask for assistance, Mr Stark said.
"Unfortunately, people are too embarrassed to ask for help.
"They don't have to be embarrassed. Everything is in confidence here," he says.
While the service helps as many people as possible, not everyone who seeks a food parcel receives one.
People must first seek help through Work and Income and accept budgeting help if they wanted ongoing help, he said.
"This is a hand up, not a hand out. We only give out enough food to help until their next pay. We walk alongside them helping them to budget," he said.
The Salvation Army is selling recipe books for $8 with quick and cheap recipes to cook.
It also provides budget and cooking classes for people needing help.
The service is desperate for dry goods, canned food, cereals and nappies which can be dropped off at Community House, next to the Rotorua Public Library.