Anyone in Orange can see how some folks are struggling this Christmas. The good news is that locals are pitching in to lend a hand!

Ashcroft IGA’s annual trolley-load of shopping FoodCare fundraiser has this year raised a hefty $6000-plus for the local food bank, a record for their traditional yuletide raffle.

With a new trend — working people who can’t make ends meet — boosting demand for FoodCare’s vital social enterprise service, they’re now experiencing record demand as the festive season approaches.

“We’re a food relief and food rescue service and, last financial year, we had 10,000 customer visits to the shop,” FoodCare Coordinator Tim Mordue told 'Orange City Life'.

“But it’s grown month-on-month this financial year — with each customer shopping for four to five people per household — every month has seen more than a thousand customer visits,” he added.

With a 40 per cent increase from just two years ago, the service is now witnessing a novel phenomenon, one that most Australians never thought we’d see in “the lucky country”.

“We’ve got a whole new range of customers coming through, and 60 per cent of these, are working families,” Tim explained.

“Things aren’t improving, people are living week-by-week, and this has pushed a lot of people over the edge, so they now require food relief.”

Good people of the Colour City have also apparently seen the need, with the raffle this year reaching record levels.

“We raised an amazing $6070 from the event, that is roughly double last year,” Ashcroft IGA’s Rochelle Ashcroft, revealed.

“People are just more aware of how others are struggling, and so they’ve given community support that is second to none,” she added.

Who was the lucky winner of the $300-plus shopping load donated by the store? Ticket no. 42 won, by a Patrick Kenny.

As well as the kind donations from local supermarkets and grocers to FoodCare’s 142 March Street operation that provides reduced cost essentials from Tuesday to Friday each week, a team of volunteers also do their bit, President Sue Clarke said.

“These are people wanting to help people who are struggling, and we get no government funding,” Sue said.

“The amount of effort Tim has put into FoodCare is amazing, but we can always do with extra volunteers!” she concluded.

For more information, go to: www.foodcareorange.org.au, for general enquiries, call 0447 577 884.