Last year, it distributed about 30 to 35 tonnes of food a month. Now, nearly 100 tonnes of food that would have otherwise gone to landfill goes out to the community every month.
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Foodbank Canterbury chief executive Dr John Milligan says the organisation is struggling to meet demand but has been repeatedly rejected for funding. New Zealanders throw out about $870 million worth of food every year, or 122,547 tonnes (about 10,212 tonnes a month). Before Covid-19, Foodbank Canterbury received individual pleas for food just four times a week – now it s more than 30 times a day. One tradie and his wife were sharing a peanut butter sandwich for tea so their four kids could eat. Milligan says he burst into tears when the man told him he d never asked for help before, but needed it now.
That meant tapping into her food or electricity budget, she said. She enrolled in He Waka Tipu s Wainoni Whānau Ora Clinic soon after it opened this year. The clinic charged just $2 a week for free medical care for a household, no matter how big.
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Joanne Palmer, who has custody of her grandson, says being able to access the Whānau Ora service is a “lifesaver”. Health costs had been a “huge worry”, so the new clinic was a “lifesaver”. From July this year, the Travis Medical Centre signed up for a Government subsidy to offer low cost appointment fees of $19.50 for Community Service Card holders, like Palmer.