Superannuitants going without meals because they can’t afford food are the targets of a new pilot assistance programme in Tauranga designed to address the “significant inequity in our city”.
The situation was “heartbreaking”, according to the boss of one frontline organisation who feared the elderly who had reached out so far were only the “tip of the iceberg”.
It comes as Stats NZ data last week showed food prices were up 12.5 per cent in the year ended June, with fruit and vegetables 22 per cent more expensive. Meat, poultry and fish went up 11 per cent and grocery food prices rose 12.8 per cent.
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said it was aware of pensioners who were not managing for a variety of reasons.
“Food seems to be the thing people are going without.”
The pilot project aimed to reach people aged 65 and struggling to afford food. …