6th December, 2012
Sydney-siders are increasingly struggling under financial pressure with The Exodus Foundation – the city’s largest front-line provider of free meals and services to the poor – reporting increasing demand for its services.
The organisation reports a 24 per cent rise in the number of people seeking urgent financial assistance – including help with electricity bills, food, rent and medical services – as well as a 21 per cent increase in demand for free meals from its city food van over the past three months with 200 meals delivered each night. There has also been a 10 per cent rise in the number of people regularly receiving meals from the Loaves & Fishes Free Restaurant over the same period.
Rev Bill Crews, CEO of the foundation – part of the Uniting Church of Australia, says even on one income people are struggling to make ends meet.
"If they are on welfare it’s even tougher for them. We are then left to bridge the gap between inadequate welfare payments and a family’s next meal…" he says.
"Because The Exodus Foundation is at the front line of delivering services to the needy we are like the canary in the coal mine – we sense the financial burden of the poor before many others. But ironically, as the economy tightens, forcing more people to turn to us, we struggle to meet their need as our donations shrink."
– DAVID ADAMS
