Bay of Plenty foodbanks are in need of extra grocery supplies after they have seen skyrocketing demand this year.

According to Katikati Christian Foodbank public relations officer Jannine, the increase in demand has come from a number of factors.

'It's been covid-19, it's been the rise in the cost of living and groceries, it's been mortgages – and now that winter has hit, people have to heat their homes as well,” says Jannine.

'It's all adding pressure and becoming harder for people to manage.”

'Katikati has a large number of retired folk who live here, who sometimes come to us in need of assistance. People tend to think that retired people don't struggle, but they certainly do.

'A lot of these retired folk can't afford to eat, let alone heat their homes.”

As a result, the Katikati Christian Foodbank has seen a huge increase in the number of requests for food parcels this year.

Jannine says in March, they saw a large increase due to people in isolation. 'We delivered 133 food parcels in March, which fed a total for 491 people.

'The demand dropped off for isolation parcels but we still delivered 98 food parcels which fed a total of 259 people in April.

'In May, we delivered 74 food parcels which fed a total of 232 people.

Janine says the total number of parcels delivered this year is 421. That is in Katikati alone, which she says shows a huge demand for foodbanks to be supplying food packages to those in need.

Scott Nicholson, general manager of The Hub Te Puke, says he has seen a similar level of increase in demand.

'In the last month, we've rescued just under 4000 kilograms of food, and redistributed around 5000 kilograms of food into our community,” says Scott.

'Although we've seen this massive increase in demand, we still haven't had to struggle to get food supply from our community and surrounding supermarkets.

'The demand we are meeting here is about three times what it was two years ago.”

Scott says that people who live in the Te Puke area who wish to donate food to The Hub foodbank can drop it off at their site at 32 Jocelyn St, Te Puke.

Katikati Christian Foodbank is hoping to ease the pressure in Katikati by hosting a Winter Food Drive, which is running from June through to August.

Jannine says the foodbank is after fresh produce, canned goods, pasta, and long-life items such as long-life milk.

She asks if people can drop off food items to Eves Real Estate, Katikati, located at the corner of Main Rd and Jocelyn St, Katikati, between 8.30am and 4pm.

'If you have excess produce from your local gardens and trees, but don't have the ability to deliver, please call 07 549 0040 Tuesday to Friday, 9am to noon, as we can collect.”

Jannine would like to make a special mention to their sponsor, Grace Anderson from Eves Real Estate, who has supplied posters and flyers for the foodbank at her own expense.