Earlier this year, Pam Hibbert was faced with a scenario no parent ever wants to endure.
After moving into her home in Ipswich, west of Brisbane, with her daughters, the disability pensioner found herself unable to afford groceries.
"I was really struggling one week, and I had no idea how I was going to feed the two girls," she says.
It's a situation playing out across the country, with Australian households battling concerning levels of food insecurity as the cost-of-living crisis takes its toll.
But amid the increasing demand on outreach services, some communities are banding together to try and bridge the gap for those struggling to make ends meet.
"I put a shout out [in a Facebook group] that I was really struggling one week after I moved in here," Pam says.
"Next minute on my doorstep was half a dozen bags of pantry items."
'People that are struggling, they all understand each other'
As many as 3.7 million households in Australia are estimated to have battled concerning levels of food insecurity last year, according to Foodbank Australia's 2023 Hunger Report.
The cost of living was the most common cause, with respondents pointing to increased living expenses (79 per cent), reduced or low income or government benefits (42 per cent), and limited access or ability to travel to get food (16 per cent), among other factors.
Like many Australians, Mary Coleman has seen firsthand the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis.
After helping those in her community sleeping rough, she formed People Helping People Ipswich, an online community group where members can give and receive essential goods.
"There’s a massive increase in homelessness and people struggling to get by every single week with food – if they're going to pay their rent, they just cannot get by," she says.
"[At some places] there's not all the necessities … sometimes you need to spend a certain amount of money to get free items and some people don't have transport."
The group is not a replacement for the vital services offered by charities and other outreach bodies, which are able to provide consistent and long-term assistance.
Rather, the community is banding together to provide short-term relief for those struggling, with an aim to pay it forward.
"People that are struggling, they all understand each other," Pam says.
"Now I have a job, I'm able to upgrade things bit by bit and I'm putting things up for free that I've received and passing it forward."
Push for official measure of poverty
The growing demand for food banks and other services since the COVID pandemic has been well documented.
"In the last year alone, we've supported nearly 250,000 Queenslanders … back in 2020 this number was closer to 180,000," says Anthony Nowak from St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland.
But when it comes to the number of Australians turning to non-official avenues for help, like social media or community groups, the data is non-existent.
Anecdotally, those like Mary say they've seen an increase in requests for assistance over the past year, but the scale of the issue is difficult to quantify.
It's symptomatic of a broader issue, with some pushing for Australia to institute an official measure of poverty to determine the number of families unable to afford adequate food, housing and clothing.
The Australia Institute's chief economist Greg Jericho says establishing a clear definition of poverty could be a key component to providing relief for vulnerable families.
"[It's] a vital first step to inform policies such as income support and hold the government accountable during a cost-of-living crisis," he says.
'Everyone is helping each other'
While reaching out for help wasn't an easy choice for Pam, the assistance of her community helped get her head "above water".
"I had no choice but to put my hand up, and it was hard for me to do that because I've always been pretty proud," she says.
"I'd like to be gracious in the fact that people have given me so much, so it'd be nice to be able to give back."
With solutions to the cost-of-living crisis few and far between, Mary says People Helping People Ipswich has become about more than just a means for people to receive goods.
"Everyone is helping each other," she says.
"It's doing without expecting in return and not judging people."
Loading...