Elsie Lange
Before the pandemic, Geoff Cronin didn’t have to eat just two meals a day to be able to budget for his week.
Before he lost his work, the 62-year-old didn’t suffer from anxiety and depression, brought on by an inability to pay back his landlord after the pandemic rent moratorium was lifted.
For people like Geoff, the increased cost of living has made everyday life even more difficult.
Mr Cronin said without the help of the local not-for-profit crisis relief centre CareWorks SunRanges, he doesn’t know where he’d be – so he volunteers for them as a way of showing his gratitude.
“One day I was walking, depressed, and I saw CareWorks,” Mr Cronin said.
“I asked what goes on there and they said they did food parcels for people and give support, financial support. Not as in a weekly wage, but to help with a bill or a rental.
“I had an interview… and they gave me some money towards my rent.”
Mr Cronin is on the JobSeeker welfare payment and receives rental assistance, but after his $480 fortnightly rent comes out of his $852 fortnightly welfare payment, he can hardly make ends meet.
“The second week’s always difficult, I’m in the second week now and I can go [to CareWorks] tomorrow… and I’ll get some bread and some soups and vegetables and all that type of thing,” Mr Cronin said.
“That’ll see me through until next Monday.”
What Mr Cronin is going through isn’t unique – people across the country are feeling the pinch as the cost of services, fuel and food continues to skyrocket.
Last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data indicating the consumer price index had risen 2.1 per cent in March and 5.1 per cent annually – impacting the cost of goods and services everywhere.
CareWorks SunRanges service manager Jane Williams said she’s seeing more people coming through their doors and more new clients seeking food and financial assistance.
“It ranges from a razor, to shave your beard, to most food items,” Ms Williams said.
“My colleague was saying people are asking for flour, we’ve hardly ever had that, but it’s down to those very things that are a staple in the pantry now.”
Sunbury resident David Cail is 63 years old and on the disability support pension – he also seeks support from CareWorks SunRanges when he can.
The former actor is now in remission after two debilitating bouts of cancer and suffers from anxiety and depression.
Mr Cail said by the time he pays for rent, medication, bills and petrol, sometimes he has about $50 left a fortnight for groceries.
“Sometimes I’ve got to decide whether [I can] afford to go and buy some stuff, food, or put it towards petrol,” Mr Cail said.
“With everything going up, it’s just trying to balance everything out and it gets to the stage where I’ve got to go to my mum, who’s 93, and borrow money off her, and try and pay her back fortnightly.”
He said the way he shops now has changed, buying two-minute noodles and instant soup to last the week, because things have been so much more expensive.
If he could ask the government for anything, he said it would be more financial assistance for pensioners because the way he was living was unsustainable.
“I’m not the only one who is struggling, there are a lot of pensioners who are struggling,” Mr Cail said.
Hume councillor Jarrod Bell said CareWorks SunRanges is a “valued and important” part of the community, but would like to live in a world where organisations like it didn’t need to exist.
“I think the way to do that is by having a really strong and robust and compassionate welfare system funded by the government,” Cr Bell said.
The Sunbury Conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society is a volunteer-run service helping those in need in most suburbs and country towns across the country.
Sunbury Conference president John Stafford said the service was seeing about 20-25 people a month.
“The reality is that once people on lower incomes have paid the bills and the rent there’s not much left over for food, fuel, clothes, medicines – or any other emergency cost,” Mr Stafford said.
He said the organisation provides food and fuel vouchers, pamper packs full of personal items, and vouchers for Vinnies stores for winter clothes, helping to take pressure off peoples’ budgets.
“We know that the rents have gone up substantially and finding affordable places to rent is almost impossible,” Mr Stafford said.
“With rising interest rates and the surging cost of living we are anticipating a greater number of calls for assistance over the next few months.”
Mr Cronin believes he would have become homeless trying to afford everything had CareWorks not stepped in, even with the incredible support of his family.
“CareWorks was immediate, I’m here in Sunbury, they’re here in Sunbury – I can’t be more thankful.”
