Food bank supplies run low as Auckland hits peak poverty, and it's not even winter

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

Torbay teenager Ash Binns is aiming to give the Auckland City Mission 1000 cans of food donated by the local community after the mission issued an urgent call in April to fill its almost empty shelves ahead of winter.

A rise in the number of people needing emergency food parcels has seen the canned food stocks of the Auckland City Mission almost exhausted.

Since January, the City Mission had provided more than 3000 emergency food parcels, containing more than 49,000 cans of food, a 28 per cent increase on the 2334 distributed in the same period last year.

'This shows how many people are desperate and hungry in our community,' Alexis Sawyers, team leader for fundraising, said.

Mum Sarah Yates says her daughter, Ash Binns, has a heart of gold and would rather give than receive. Ash is currently collecting 1000 cans of food for the Auckland City Mission.

The lack of cans was indicative of a rise in need over the past three months, and she said the Mission was tracking to distribute almost 15,000 emergency parcels by the end of June - the highest in the mission's 98-year history.

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13-year-old Long Bay College student Ash Binns has collected 608 cans as of May 2 for the Auckland City Mission, which is in urgent need of canned goods.

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'Since we have already seen increased demand in the first quarter of the year, we are very concerned about how many people will need our help over the winter months.'

The mission traditionally saw a spike in demand for emergency food over winter, as people on low incomes struggled to buy food in the face of higher electricity, heating costs and prescription changes, Sawyers said.

However, the response to the mission's urgent April 22 callout for canned food was 'very heartening'.

'People have responded amazingly to our call-out to help replenish our stocks. We are hoping we will get in enough stock to last for around three months,' Sawyers said.

The Auckland City Mission is in desperate need of canned goods after distributing more than 3000 emergency food parcels containing more than 49,000 cans.

One of these, was 13-year-old Ash Binns from Auckland's North Shore, who hoped to deliver 1000 cans to the mission's distribution centre on May 5.

Ash, an aspiring actress herself, was inspired by a April 24 tweet by Shortland St actress-turned-director Jacqueline Nairn, who had since been applauding Ash's efforts on her feed.

In just over a week, the year 9 student from Long Bay College had collected 608 cans from among members of the East Coast Bays community, which did not include the packets of pasta, noodles, nuts and soup.

'I have been surprised at how many people are helping out. I didn't think that there was going to be that many people and I never thought I'd get past 100 cans,' Ash said.

Her parents, Andy Binns and Sarah Yates, said their daughter's can drive was not her first, or last, selfless act.

'She loves helping people who are less fortunate than her,' Yates said.

'I feel like helping them will make me be a better person,' Ash added.

If you would like to help Ash with her efforts, drop canned goods in the box at the Torbay Fruit Shop, 1034 Beach Rd.