Auckland City Mission is imploring people to donate money and non-perishable food items with demand for food parcels expected to double over Christmas.
Mission chief executive Chris Farrelly says he’s been shocked by the food poverty in New Zealand but said the pressure on high need families increases over the holiday period.
"We’ve had about a 27 per cent increase in the food parcels we’ve distributed throughout the year, mainly to families, 68 per cent have gone to women, mothers and grandmothers," he told TVNZ1's Breakfast.
"People do not have enough to live day-by-day let alone when things go wrong."
"If you don’t have enough money, food is one of the first things to go."
Mr Farrelly said similar organisations around the country were having a similar experience.
"What we’ve experienced this year is people are going hungry in New Zealand like never before and this has been a shock to us that we’ve got growing food hunger, growing food poverty, growing food insecurity in this country," he said.
'It’s often just covered up, but it will come to the fore."
"We’re expecting demand to double (over Christmas), our social workers work with families in high need and for most of these families there is literally nothing left in the pantry."
"Our theme is there is enough Christmas to go around for everybody, if we just share."
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