Demand for Foodbank NT services surges by the thousands amid coronavirus ‘perfect storm’

THE number of Territorians going hungry and seeking support from Foodbank NT has surged by the thousands following the recent coronavirus-induced spike in unemployment.

Foodbank NT chief executive Peter Pilt says the organisation has experienced a spike in demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Picture Che Chorley

THE number of Territorians going hungry and seeking support from Foodbank NT has surged by the thousands following the recent coronavirus-induced spike in unemployment.

With hundreds of workers in the hospitality and tourism sectors joining Centrelink queues in recent weeks, chief executive Peter Pilt said the organisation had been handing out an extra 16,000 meals a month to those doing it tough.

“We normally process the equivalent of about 34,000 meals a month and for March alone it spiked at 50,000. We haven’t done our figures yet for April but I believe it will be at least 50,000 possibly more,” he said.

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Mr Pilt said while stocks were again looking healthy thanks to some large donations from supermarkets, panic buying in the early stages of the pandemic had created the “perfect storm”.

“We really struggled with getting enough food and one of the reasons was because everyone was panic buying and that meant there was no food rescue,” he said.

“Our shelves were looking pretty scant for a few weeks but at the moment we’ve had some significant donations.”

Mr Pilt said one cohort in particular need were international students who may have lost casual employment and weren’t able to return home.

But thanks to a grant from Charles Darwin University Mr Pilt said Foodbank had been able to step in and help keep food on their tables.

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“We’ve been doing anywhere from 350 to 430 hampers a week going out to international students so that’s certainly been a significant increase in demand,” he said.

“In the end we just had to buy food in through some of the wholesalers which is not what we would normally do but the demand was there and the supply hasn’t been but it is now.”