He thought he'd seen it all - until the day he watched almost 1000 hungry Aucklanders queuing hours for food.
For years a champion of families struggling to make ends meet in some of the city's hardest-hit areas, Darryl Evans is recalling the astonishing scenes he witnessed at the foodbank he runs in Mangere during the Covid-19 lockdown.
"There was a day when we had 800 people waiting in line for four hours," he says. "I've never seen anything like it and I hope I never see it again."
It takes a lot to gobsmack Evans. Born in Wales and one of eight children in a family that lived close to the breadline, for the last 20 years he has been CEO at the Mangere Budgeting Services Trust and foodbank where he helps people in dire financial straits.
Through these experiences he is only too familiar with the plight facing many of those who turn to the trust for help. Even so, for him the events of the past few weeks have been "unprecedented".
"There is undoubtedly a massive need for the foodbank. In normal times we hand out 150 to 250 a week - and during lockdown the highest (number of food parcels) was about 2900 and we reached 16,000 in eight weeks."
Much of his work has been shaped by his childhood: "There was never a lot of money in our family," he says. "I never had anything like new clothes or a bike, it was all hand-me downs. Although there was a lot of love in my family I remember the stress my parents were under to put food on the table."
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Evans, who frequently puts in 60 to 70 hour weeks, was recognised this week when he received an ASB Good as Gold award. The bank is giving the trust $10,000 to help with its community work and Evans himself $2000 to take a break with his family.
ASB Counties and Waikato regional manager Mark Hayward says Evans is an incredibly deserving recipient, having helped so many people in the area.
"The last few months have been hard on so many New Zealanders and Darryl's work helping to hand out 16,000 food parcels over just eight weeks really highlights that.
"However his work goes beyond what he does at the foodbank, through his campaigning to help Kiwis out of poverty, and into a better life. He is a true asset to the Mangere community and we're proud to be able to recognise him in this way."
Evans was nominated for the award by Kathryn Strez, a volunteer at the trust, who says he is a "connector in the community. He really understands people and their challenges and he would genuinely give the shirt off his back if someone needed it."
Evans says his upbringing in Wales has helped shaped his work today. "We were a poor family but as a child, I didn't realise it because everyone was in the same boat," he says. "I'm grateful for my childhood because hard times make you the person you are and I've always wanted to give back.
"We had really good, loving parents and it is only later in life I realised how much they sacrificed for us. My mother would share what food we had with neighbours - everybody did that.
"I remember one time she took potato peelings out of the rubbish and re-peeled them to try and make crisps," he says. "And my father always said 'you may be poor, but it doesn't define what you will become'."
Evans moved to New Zealand in 1989 when aged 23. He came on a three-month holiday but enjoyed the Kiwi way of life so much he decided to stay.
Although the Covid-10 pandemic has led to "unprecedented times", Evans believes the problem of poverty has still got progressively worse in the years he has been involved with the trust.
"The majority of our clients (typically low income families, pensioners and homeless) are on low incomes and for them the minimum wage won't cut the mustard. Although there have been some welcome increases in benefits what tends to happen is this; as quickly as people have an extra $25 in their pockets, rents go up."
He says research conducted by the trust paints a grim picture. Three years ago the average family of four had $83 left over after paying rent; today that figure has plummeted to $39. "You can't feed a family healthy food with that."
And a separate survey of 500 clients recently revealed another startling fact: The average family of five share just one toothbrush.
Evans says the $10,000 donation from the ASB will help buy a new foodbank delivery van, while he is likely to take his family (he has an 18-year-old son) to Rotorua for a short break with the $2000 he has been given.
He says the award is brilliant: "But nothing I do would be possible without the great team working with me; all of them have worked tirelessly especially through the lockdown."
Besides the ASB award, Evans has received other good news recently. Fearing it might have had to close after the building it leases in Mangere was sold, the trust has been given six months to find a new premises.