More Australian families are going without food on a daily basis as the cost of living soars.
According to a new report by Foodbank, an alarming 22 percent of Australian children have lived in a food insecure home in the past 12 months.
The astonishing figure equates to more than 1-in-5 Aussie kids and experts are worried.
“Absolutely shocking statistics,” Michael Rose, Foodbank’s CEO, said.
“This latest research proves the situation is far more common than once imagined.”
So desperate is the problem becoming, many parents are going to extraordinary lengths just to put forward on the table for their children.
“A lot of the families that are in that situation, the parents will go without eating a meal,” Mr Rose said.
“In some instance parents won’t eat for the entire day.”
The report also highlights many children are being sent to school without food, causing serious social problems.
“For many it’s embarrassing and it takes a huge toll on the way a child goes about their day-to-day life.”
Queensland mum Kimi Muliage is encouraging parents and children who can’t afford food, to get assistance.
“Don’t be ashamed,” she said.
“You need help and you should ask for it.”
Mrs Muliage recently went through her own battle, when her family went from a two income household to one.
“We were managing to start with, but when the older children came home due to work, that’s when we started to struggle,” she said.
“Sometimes we’d only have one big meal a day, because it was easier to not pay for food in order to keep a roof over our heads.”
Realising her family needed help, Kimi went to her local foodbank – a place where she now volunteers.
“Joy returned to our lives,” she said.
“We make a point, that anyone who comes to foodbank, we don’t want them to be ashamed.”
For more information, please visit www.foodbank.org.au.
-9News Australia
