Melbourne
woman Jay has never had to ask for help before, so walking into a
charity and turning to them for groceries was mortifying at first.
"To have to rely on help, it made me feel a bit embarrassed," she said.
First her flat was broken into, with all of her valuables stolen. Then, she lost her job in the beauty industry.
Since then, she's been couch surfing as well as living in emergency accommodation.
And with no food in the cupboard, Jay went to the Christ Church Mission charity in Melbourne for the first time.
The charity offers food, personal items like toiletries and hot meals to take away.
"When
you go from privately renting, paying $2,000 a month — that was my
normal routine — to now not having any income, not having money to pay
bills or put food on the plate, it's surreal to me," she said.
"Everything was crumbling around me.
"Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of savings, I was living pay cheque to pay cheque.
"I had a lot of debt, which I easily managed on my income. But when there is no income, it's hard to pay."
As charities close their doors, demand doubles
Jay
isn't alone. For many Australians, the COVID-19 pandemic means this is
the first time they've truly struggled to get food on the table.
Hundreds of thousands are out of work, getting fewer hours, or are waiting for unemployment benefits to come through.
Australia's
largest food-relief organisation, Foodbank, says demand for help is at a
record high, doubling in the past few weeks alone.
"We've seen ongoing drought, followed by bushfires, followed by COVID-19," chief executive Brianna Casey said.
At the same time, almost a fifth of charities who usually provide food relief have had to close their doors.
"We
are seeing people who are nearly unemployed or underemployed. They
simply don't have a buffer in their household budget to deal with the
economic shock we're going through."
Jay hasn't
been able to find another job. While she's been approved for the
Jobseeker payment, she's still waiting for the money to come through.
"So many people who have been stood down, a lot of people [are] fighting for the same jobs now," Ms Casey said.
"We're
starting to see a lot of overseas students, backpackers, families on
visas, or people who have lost their jobs and are waiting to get some
form of financial assistance from Centrelink," she said.
"These are people, we've never ever seen before. They've never accessed services like us before so it's very, very new to them."
Leticia can't go home
Argentinian woman Leticia, as well as her friends, have had to rely on Foodbank's help to access food staples.
She came to Australia two months ago for a holiday, but it's turned into a bit of a nightmare.
"I was dating someone, I came for a visit and we were all going together to India," she said.
"That relationship ended and now we're here.
"The borders are closed, there are some flights, but they're really expensive."
She's on a holiday visa and can't work. She also needs to reserve some of her savings to purchase a flight home.
"We have insurance but it doesn't cover a pandemic situation," she said.
Leticia is sharing a two-bedroom apartment with three other people for now, but soon they have to move.
Her situation has been made all the harder being thousands of kilometres from family and support networks back home.
Seeing a friendly face at the charity was all the more important for her.
"It's
really important because we felt like there was someone there for us. I
know if I struggle with something I could go and maybe they could help
me in some other way," she said.
Foodbank's Brianna Casey says if anyone needs help, they should go to a website called Ask Izzy, which is run by a social enterprise.
"It's
a great central website where you can type in your need, such as fee
relief, bill help, food, and it will direct you to services in your
local area," she said.
"Alternatively, you can contact state and territory foodbanks to provide information."
And financial counsellors at the National Debt Helpline can also help point you towards emergency relief services.
"We're actually very blessed and very lucky to have a lot of charitable organisations out there," Jay said.
"You realise, 'hey, I'm not the only one, I'm one of many people' — it's not something you need to feel ashamed about."
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