Families urged to seek help

• Published date: 26 January 2023
• Publication title: Star, The

Social agencies are concerned that this will result in families being caught in debt cycles and are urging people to reach out to MSD and schools for help

St Vincent de Paul foodbank distributed more than 200 Christmas food parcels, delivering half of them to homes.

Presbyterian Support Otago Family Works foodbank reported ‘‘exceptionally high’’ demand over Christmas-New Year, providing 727 food parcels from December 1 to 23.In 2022, the total number of food parcels provided was 4462, up from 3461 in 2021 — an increase of 29%.

Family Works director Carmen Batchelor said the organisation was expecting to be ‘‘extremely busy’’ from the end of January...