Ongoing Covid fallout sees demand for Christmas food parcels soar

Tuesday, 22 December 2020

Christchurch City Mission has been inundated by people the week before Christmas, causing traffic issues.

As bills piled up and Government support waned after Covid-19, Lisa Hayes was unsure whether she could afford Christmas this year.

That changed as she pulled into the Christchurch City Mission and was gifted a package containing a ham, pavlova and pantry staples.

“They're a godsend. It really gave us a Christmas, because we just wouldn't have had one otherwise. Especially when you've got kids, you feel that guilt when you can’t support them.”

Queues for food parcels in Christchurch have been so busy in recent days a section of road near the City Mission was closed to accommodate queueing traffic.

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Lisa Hayes picks up her food parcel from the City Mission.

Hayes has custody of her two grandsons and her two nieces are also staying with her. They, along with her daughter, will have Christmas at her Shirley home.

Hayes is on a sickness benefit and said throughout lockdown it was easy to get support from Work and Income. However, this changed as restrictions eased.

The social impacts of Covid-19 have led to huge increases in requests for food parcels.

“They were much harder to deal with once Covid was over and I sort of didn’t have many other options.”

Demand for Christmas food parcels has surged in the city this year, partly due to the social fallout from Covid-19.

Nationally, social services are swamped as people who would not normally need help seek support over the holidays.

Cars were lining up on Hereford St for the Christchurch City Mission’s Christmas food parcels on Tuesday morning.

City Missioner Matthew Mark at the City Mission says Monday was “hectic” as demand for food packages caused traffic jams.

The previous day, the queue caused traffic jams that spread for several blocks, and the city council has since made the street one-way between Fitzgerald Ave and Barbadoes St between 7am and 4pm until Thursday.

Mark said the mission was experiencing three times the demand of last year for its parcels.

“In our first hour of yesterday, we saw as many people as we usually see in three days.”

The parcels are similar to its standard food packages, but include a few “extra treats” for Christmas including chicken, ham, pavlova and ice cream.

Cars were moving more freely on Tuesday thanks to a council traffic management plan

It had pre-packaged 600 parcels by Monday and created another 360, but donations were continuing to come in.

The social impact of Covid-19 was a common denominator for many coming through, Mark said.

“These are people who are the most vulnerable to start with who either have reduced incomes or have lost an income, or they might have been doing casual or contract work which isn't there any more.”

About 900 people came through in the first two days, and Mark expected the demand to continue to rise every day until Christmas.

The mission will also hold its annual Christmas lunch on Friday at the Linwood Rugby Club, providing more than 1200 meals for residents of its emergency shelters.

Foodbank Canterbury chief executive John Milligan said the demographic of people seeking assistance had changed due to the pandemic.

“We've heard stories of families who may be feeling they are fairly well off, and then dad is made redundant and food becomes a bit of an issue.”

Agencies were reporting a huge increase in demand, he said.

This time last year it moved between 35 and 40 tonnes of donated produce per week, but this has risen to the current amount of 90 tonnes.

Salvation Army southern divisional director Vikki Stevenson said it had not had a similar increase in demand for its food packages, which she attributed to the rise in organisations offering similar services.

There were now more than 130 places in Christchurch offering food to struggling residents, she said.

The increased demand has been felt across the country.

Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge said his organisation was preparing to deliver over 100 hampers on Christmas Eve.

Edridge said the challenge was continuing to support people and families over Christmas and into 2021 as they recover from Covid-19’s economic impact.

“All hands will be on deck on Christmas Eve with all our staff and volunteers gifting hampers and bringing Christmas cheer to people and families right throughout the Wellington region,” he said.

Last week phones jammed for the Auckland City Mission’s food parcel phone lines after one of its distribution centres for Christmas logged 42,000 calls in a single day.