Rising prices are squeezing the poor so that more of them are turning to food banks for the bare essentials they need just to survive.
In one of Australia's most prosperous cities, demand for the basics on the bottom rung is rising as poor tenants struggle to pay rents, according to Jason Haines who runs St John's Care in Reid.
"They can't afford to get petrol. They can't afford to take their kids to school so they are coming in trying to get some support. But the biggest thing we give out is food," he said.
And cash for scripts as winter sets in. "We are spending money to keep people's heart medication and insulin levels [steady]," he said.
It used to be people on welfare would go to his centre but he has noticed increasingly people who are not on welfare - the working poor - are now seeking help. In the first half hour of Thursday morning, eight people went. In May, there were 598 visits, every one of them a case of hardship and quiet pain.
He measures the increase in demand by how often he needs to restock shelves in the area offering free food. It used to be once a week; now it's two or three times.
It's a tale of similar hardship at the Canberra City Care food pantry in Charnwood. "There are a lot more vulnerable Aussies in need," manager Randy Albrecht said.
"A lot of our customers have become more reliant on us and they come more frequently.
"It reflects the challenges of coming out of COVID and the escalation in prices at the fuel bowsers and supermarkets."
There were 1200 people on the customer data base and they received on average 300 visits for support per week.
Many have vouchers from Foodbank, a national charity set up to fight hunger in Australia.
"The use of Foodbank vouchers has gone up by 30 per cent since the start of the year," Mr Albrecht said.
People who go to get free or very cheap food at any of the centres are usually shy about it.
But the pain emerges.
"I'm struggling big," Marsh Kaimoana said at the St John's pantry.
"I'm stressing out about it."
Paul Oran sleeps on the floor of the lounge of his family's two bedroom unit. His two boys share one bedroom and his two daughters and their mother share the other.
His big hope is an application for a job in security. In the meantime: "It's uncomfortable. It's crowded at home."
He fled the war in Sudan 19 years ago and had a job until five years ago.
Rob Smith was in work as a shelf-stacker at Woolies until two years ago, and then the pandemic struck and he found himself out of a job and facing a string of personal crises.
"I couch-surfed for six months," he said. Now he's living with a friend.
He survives on $300 per week plus an extra $20 for the bus fares he pays to get to the food pantry where he helps out as a condition of his dole - but the bus fares eat up the extra.
Canberra's network of help relies on the goodness of others. Different places have different methods, gathering the goods they then give out in different ways. Some sell at low prices to cover costs and some give it away for free.
At the St John's Care centre, Anglicare helps but there is also a mountain of volunteering and donation.
They usually buy the food they give out. Sometimes good-hearted people just bring in bags of groceries, but a cheque is the most useful donation because needs change through the year.
"This month, the need might be soup because it's really cold," Jason Haines said.
The Charnwood centre makes food which it sells at $3 a meal. It also has a workshop where volunteers refurbish old laptops so people who can't afford the hardware can get it online. And there's the store, offering by cheap food and other goods.
It's run by the Life Unlimited Church which pays the rent and a few of the staff - but volunteers are the backbone. There are about 40 over a month, some coming for a few hours and some for longer.
Coles and Woolworths both give it food. Fruit at the end of the day is on offer. There is a lot of tinned food, all of which is completely edible - it's just that supermarket customers don't like dented tins.
Coles describes its SecondBite scheme: "We rescue edible surplus food from growers, manufacturers and retailers and distribute it free of charge to over 1400 charities and not-for-profit organisations to feed vulnerable Aussies in need."
Demand is growing.
Mitchell and Sally Stevens are feeling this demand as team leaders for the Salvation Army in Braddon. They said sometimes there will be huge stockpiles of food while other weeks there is limited supply for the supermarkets.
"The food that we give away is very dependent on week-to-week, so last week we actually got nothing," Mrs Stevens said.
"Other weeks we have an abundance which we really try to push to have something to give to people, so we generally have frozen meals that we get from Barton grocer."
Every Monday and Friday a cooked lunch is hosted along with any food that's available from supermarkets and OzHarvest, which the Stevens have noticed is receiving more demand than ever before.
Mrs Stevens said they have regulars but also people using the charity for the first time, so many "don't even know that these types of spaces exist". "We want to make sure that we have enough specifically for those and a lot of them are families," she said.
The uptake from first-time users had increased about 20 per cent, Mr Stevens estimated. "We've experienced more people than ever saying that this is their first they've accessed our services," he said.
During these difficult times, community meant more now than ever for the organisation, which volunteer Suzanne Slapp said was her highest priority after recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.
"I went to Canberra Recovery Services rehab and I came here to recovery church on the Sundays and I knew I needed a community to go to," she said.
Ms Slapp said the program changed her life and would "recommend it to anybody", as addiction became even more difficult when financial strains started to mount up.
"It's like a double-edged sword sort of thing. You want to get rid of all your pain and misery and sadness, but then that's going to cost you money ... but if you did do it then all that money is not going to be wasted," she said.
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