Two hundred meals are being given to Maitland's less fortunate every week in a bid to keep them nourished.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Some have so little money that they are skipping meals and are forced to go without food over the weekend.
A free meal from OzHarvest each Monday is a reprieve from their circumstances and that's what keeps volunteers cooking in the Community Kitchen program.
About 60 per cent of the people who line up for the meal at Maitland Neighbourhood Centre each week have families to feed and the demand is expected to rise as low income earners deal with the fallout of the latest COVID-19 lockdown.
"We're seeing people from 20 to 85," centre manager Sarah Adams said.
"It helps them to get through. Last year with COVID they were working reduced hours and now that JobSeeker has gone back to almost what it was before we are seeing a higher demand."
Cafe owner Amorelle Dempster opens her commercial kitchen in East Maitland to volunteers every week so they can create meals from food donated to OzHarvest.
For every 2kg piece of meat they make 5kg worth of meals out of it. The food is restaurant quality and includes as many ingredients as possible to give them a high level of nutrition.
'We're lucky the centre is still open in this lockdown to accept the meals because there is a big need for them," Ms Dempster said.
"Most of us can just go and get whatever we need at the supermarket. But if you're on a low income you often don't have the money to be able to do that. People are hungry and they need food, and we are very happy we can give it to them."
Volunteers work throughout the week to prepare the meals. They unpack and wash the vegetables on Mondays and decide what meals they will make every Wednesday. Fridays are spent making deserts and on Saturday they make the wet dishes.
"My philosophy is that we need to take the food and turn it into something that we would eat, something that is made with lots of love and is very nutritious," Ms Dempster said.
"We go through 120 to 150 eggs a week. We look at the ingredients we have and then decide what we can make with them."
The meals are chilled over the weekend and OzHarvest picks them up and distributes them on Monday.
OzHarvest also offers fresh food to people in need every Friday at the centre. How much they get depends on what the supermarkets have donated.
"Typically they get enough to last three days. If they can spend some money on pasta then they are able to extend that food so it will last longer," Ms Adams said.
The centre also makes its own food to help and offers five frozen meals for $5. They had a council grant behind them to fund the project but that has finished so they rely on the $5 contribution to keep it afloat.
"We give emergency food hampers as well but they can only get them once every few months," Ms Adams said.