중동 위기 속에서 웨스트 오클랜드 푸드뱅크의 연료비 두 배 증가

With the sky-rocketing cost of using diesel-run trucks and no promises whether they'll get government funding in the next budget, Fair Food's future remains uncertain.

Michelle Blau, manager of Fair Food.
Photo: Bella Craig

A West Auckland foodbank says it's struggling with increasing demand and soaring fuel costs.

Fair Food recycles 15,000 tonnes of food that doesn't sell in supermarkets each week, donating it to charities who then deliver to whānau in need.

But with the sky-rocketing cost of using diesel-run trucks and no promises whether they'll get government funding in the next budget, their future remains uncertain.

In a warehouse in West Auckland, hundreds of boxes of groceries are unloaded each week by volunteers in hi-vis.

But the fruit, veges, meat, bread and dairy are actually leftovers - the perishable products left on supermarket shelves at the end of each day.

Despite not being sold that day, Fair Food manager Michelle Blau said the food is still perfectly fine.

"We've got a whole box of eggs, we've got lots of different kinds of milk, some custard, some really gorgeous cheeses, broccoli, tomatoes.

"This will all go out to community organisations who will divide it up to families in need."

Fair Food has a team of more than 600 volunteers they can call on, who put together food parcels and turn some of the recycled food into meals and baking.

Fair Food volunteers recycling mislabelled yoghurt.
Photo: Bella Craig

"So we have pallets of this yoghurt but it's not Fresh and Fruity strawberry, it would've been like a test batch.

"We can't send it out like this because it would be mislabelled, but we can integrate it into our kitchen products."

Everything is donated at no cost, but they have to pick up the groceries in five diesel-run freezer trucks from 35 stores every day around Auckland.

But because of the war in the Middle East, their fortnightly diesel costs have more than doubled from $720 at the start of the year to over $1600.

"They may only be doing 100 kilometres but it's all in traffic, it's all stop-start. It takes five hours to do those 100 kilometres."

"It's [also] a freezer vehicle, even our hybrid diesel is still costing us thousands of dollars."

But right now, there's no choice but to keep filling up their trucks because the need out in communities is too great.

Fair Food's foodbank is open seven days a week, 12 hours a day, to support 70 charities.

New Foundation is one of those charities and worker Sharafat Salarzai was parked at Fair Food waiting for parcels.

She was delivering them to people who don't qualify for support from the Ministry of Social Development because of their visa status and can't afford to put petrol in their cars to visit the foodbank.

"The impact is very bad on our communities, I can see some of them going through a very stressful time."

"They keep saying maybe I'll go talk to the school because I can't drop off my children because I can't afford to put petrol in my car.

"If I put petrol in, I can't buy the food that we need."

Another car in line belonged to Heather Tanguay who helps to fill pātaka kai around Glen Eden. She told Checkpoint demand for food has never been higher.

"People are waiting for us at the pātaka on a regular basis, all of our drivers meet people waiting.

"People are embarrassed, but people know that they have to eat. The other thing we've noticed is a rise in older people."

Fair Food receives some support from the government's Food Secure Communities grant.

But Blau said most of their funding comes through private donations and community grants.

"All of our organisations run on the smell of an oily rag and now we don't even have the smell of that oily rag."

"It is incredibly challenging. Government support is less than 10 percent of our total operating costs and we don't even know if we'll have government support in the upcoming budget."

With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, she said fuel will continue to be the number one topic of conversation.