One in six Australians have not known where their next meal will come from at least once in the past year and are seeking help from food charities, according to Foodbank’s hunger report.
The shocking statistic, released last week, highlights the crisis that is straining food charities.
According to the report more than half of those Australians say it has occurred up to three times and for 28 per cent of them it is a regular occurrence.
Charities are feeling the impact of the sluggish economy with 43,000 people nationwide seeking food relief each month but unable to be assisted by welfare agencies.
Of those 32 per cent were children. In WA more than 53,000 people were assisted each month but 5000 adults and 2300 children were unable to be helped.
That’s a seven per cent increase in people seeking food relief on the previous 12 months.
Last year Foodbank WA distributed more than three million kilograms of food, which equated to 15,500 meals a day.
Foodbank WA chief executive Greg Hebble was shocked by the findings and said the mining downturn played a role.
“There’s no doubt about it the economic times are having an influence on it,” he said.
“We’re getting many calls from FIFO families and resource families that are unfortunately being made redundant, some of them up to six to nine months ago.
“They knew it was going to be tough but there’s so many people out of work they’ve discovered that their redundancy has now just dwindled away and they’re struggling to get a job.
“Sometimes they’ll apply for job after job and they don’t get a response.”
He said Foodbank was working hard to feed more people and they had achieved that over the past 12 months but called on the public to help. “One good thing about it is that we’re feeding more people and that’s a thing we’re proud of but we know there is a long way to go,” he said.
“We’re asking people to join the fight and spread the word and inform others in the community of what’s going on.
“We’re encouraging businesses and schools and the like if they’ve got an opportunity to run a food drive and help out someone then we’ll welcome that.”
Thornlie student and low-income earner Alex accessed Foodbank’s services in the past 12 months after a series of unexpected bills.
“Because I was short of money and fell on hard times I needed them,” she said.
“It was an emergency but it helped me get through a tough time.”
On June 1 Perth Wildcats player Damian Martin visited Foodbank’s Perth Airport headquarters and encouraged the community to sign Foodbank’s pledge to fight hunger in Australia.
Visit www.foodbank.org.au to sign the pledge.
