Foodbank Victoria has warned that the rising cost of living is seeing 50,000 Victorians seeking help with food every day, many of them for the first time.
The charity organized car food gatherings on Sunday with thousands of people visiting places in Dandenong and Epping to receive free carts of vegetables and pantry basics, coinciding with the start of the school holidays.
Foodbank Victoria says working people have used its services as they struggle to make ends meet.
Executive director Dave McNamara said more people than ever were struggling to make ends meet due to rising costs across the country and his group saw many people in work looking for help after realizing it. I know they were struggling to feed their families.
He said it was not just the sleepy ones who were facing these difficulties.
“There are no more people on the street; they are people from your street, ”McNamara told Channel Nine.
“We have people who have never been to a charity before and don’t know where to go.”
Foodbank Victoria set up bus centers on Sunday as a way to make it easier for people who had never asked for help before to get some support.
“The pressures of the cost of living on people and families right now have increased so dramatically and people are struggling to get back to the front,” McNamara said.
“Not only are charities struggling now to meet demand as they return from COVID, but people who work and are in this position for the first time have no idea where to go.”
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