Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin. Photo / File
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin. Photo / File
The type of people needing help from foodbanks has shifted as Covid-19 continues to have an ongoing effect.
Traditionally, single people have been the most in need and this was rising consistently each year as the cost of accommodation also rose.
Now, the Tauranga Community Foodbank is seeing more wage earners, people who lost their jobs, or are now working reduced hours, as a result of Covid-19.
The Bay of Plenty Times, in partnership with Gilmours Wholesale Food and Beverage Tauriko, launched its annual, six-week Christmas Appeal for the Tauranga Community Foodbank on Saturday. Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said a lot of the same people who needed the foodbank's support before the pandemic still needed it.
These were people constantly in survival mode and lucky to meet the bare minimum of housing, heating, and food.
The foodbank also supported people who could meet the basics but only just.
Those where it "doesn't take much to tip you out that week or month, whether it's school going back ... a new tyre... a few doctors visits".
However, the pandemic had brought on new clients that Goodwin said they never expected to see including people who had never needed to ask for this kind of help before.
One common example was people who were "very self-sufficient" and successful self-employed and small business owner-operators.
"There was a little bit of Government relief but the reality is that their work stopped and once it restarted, they've had a lot of expenses."
She said rent, business, and building costs as well as the cost of living continued to pile up while they waited for their incomes to start again.
Those who never thought they would find themselves in this situation came with a "huge amount of shame", Goodwin said.
"People were really upset in that initial phone call with us."
She explained the foodbank could and would help not just people who had no income but those who were drowning in expenses, helping them get back on their feet.
"Please, please swallow your pride, please don't wait until we are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff," she urged.
"Reach out as soon as you realise things aren't going the way you planned."
This not only stopped people spiralling into depression but also into further financial hardship.
"We'd rather help out earlier and refer people to other organisations that can offer support."
