A Bay of Plenty food bank has seen a 35 percent jump in demand in the last three years, and there are no expectations this will ease any time soon.
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Tauranga Community Foodbank serves the country's fastest-growing city and demand for support has increased dramatically in recent years.
In 2018, there were 13,541 people who received a food parcel, and in 2019 this number increased to 15,724.
In 2020, there were 19,382 people needing support.
This equated to about 160,000 meals given out to fill rumbling tummies.
Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a rise in the number of people needing its services.
"But we've also just seen the continuing demand due to the cost of living and housing," she said.
She did not believe that this would change until incomes increased to match the cost of living.
In the meantime, the consistently busy foodbank was gearing up for yet another big year.
"I think we're going to see a huge amount more food going out the door next year."
She noticed solo people working or those on a benefit were among the demographic increasingly needing the foodbank's services.
But she believed people in the middle-income bracket also needed more help.
"They're really struggling because there is zero extra support."
To help combat this increased demand, the organisation was stocking up on food and increasing the amount of food put in parcels to make them last a week rather than the previous three or so days.
"People are having to get less parcels, but [access] more relief during that initial contact," Goodwin said.
In November 2019, the foodbank launched a regular giving programme called 'What's For Tea'.
This allowed people to regularly donate money to the foodbank to help keep it ticking over.
Goodwin said the community had got behind the idea and a good number of people had signed up.
"The support we see from people here in the Tauranga area is outstanding. We've got quite a diverse population here so people that can give, are [giving]. We saw a lot of giving during the Covid times, and we've seen an extraordinary amount of giving at Christmas."
"That's how we pre-plan for the coming years. We're solid, so we'll be able to be here and support our community.
"I'm really impressed with New Zealand on a whole and our community. Covid really focussed people's attention on what people need in life, and food has been one of those focuses.
"That has resulted in a lot of support for organisations like ours, so keep it up."
