Sallies plan home visits food parcel recipients

The Salvation Army in Tauranga is planning follow-up home visits to food parcel recipients to try to make sure people are not selling or raffling their parcels in pubs.
Community ministries officer Rob Bartlett said he was concerned that people would feel pressure to make money off their donated food parcels as tough times hit.
While the Salvation Army would continue to offer referrals to Tauranga's Food Bank, the organisation would start screening food parcel recipients with home visits afterwards.
"When you don't do that, you could have people getting cash advances. That's the last thing we want. There's enough needy people out there now," Mr Bartlett said. "It's something we would hope to put into place in the near future."
Mr Bartlett said it was important to realise people who were selling their parcels were not necessarily reflective of all food parcel recipients.
"There might be one or two people doing that but the rest of them get the food parcels because they desperately need them."The Salvation Army assesses each family's food parcel request and makes referrals to the Tauranga Food Bank, which supplies the parcels.
"Usually if people rip us off, sooner or later we find out about it and people will be keen to tell us," Mr Bartlett said.
In Rotorua, some families had been seen trading their food parcels for money or trying to raffle or change the value of meat vouchers, the Daily Post reported.
Agencies had also heard of people receiving a food parcel and then raffling it off in hotels.
Tauranga Food Bank's Glenn Spedding said he had not heard of anyone trying to sell food parcels locally.
While the food bank was busy, it had been a gradual increase in demand, Mr Spedding said.
"We probably are getting more as redundancies happen and [because of] the price of food at the moment.
"We are busy.
"We are doing about 40-odd a day and we still need food to come in or money. But for the foreseeable future we are doing okay."
In Tauranga, families were allowed only three parcels from the food bank before they were referred to a budgeting adviser.
In Rotorua, the limit is two, and as well as people raffling parcels, some were also changing the numbers on meat vouchers to try to claim more than they had been given.
Rotorua Salvation Army community services manager Graeme Stark told the Daily Post that was disappointing, considering the group was trying to help people who had a real need.
"It's meant to help take them to the next pay period," Mr Stark said.
Source http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/