When the Loaves and Fishes food delivery arrives at Ravenswood Neighbourhood House each Monday, it rarely lasts more than a few days.
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And that window of time is quickly becoming shorter as more struggle to meet living costs during the pandemic.
More than 100 people access the food service at the centre each week - and that's not counting the two other Ravenswood services that rely on Loaves and Fishes.
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"It's invaluable to our community," Ravenswood Neighbourhood House manager Nettie Burr said.
"The extra food items we get from Loaves and Fishes allows us to put out hundreds of bags each week for the community to take home, saving them all a few dollars which is so important at the moment.
"There's huge demand, a huge need. They just need to be funded properly."
Church-based charity Loaves and Fishes provides about 70 per cent of Tasmania's food relief, collecting surplus food from supermarkets and other producers to distribute to those in need via 225 agencies, including Ravenswood Neighbourhood House.
But the growing demand during COVID-19 means they are struggling to keep up. Loaves and Fishes is funded by the state government, but they were eager to tap into a $16 million federal fund for food relief organisations during the pandemic.
They were unsuccessful.
"The reality is that we will be limited, we will have to decrease the amount of supply we are putting out each week," Loaves and Fishes chief executive Andrew Hillier said.
"The unfortunate part about it that we see is that in the weeks and months ahead as the pandemic and the isolation restrictions begin to cease, we are going to see that some of the direct impacts of this pandemic are going to hit people's lives and that is when we need to be ready to ramp up our supply.
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"It has been an ongoing battle for us over the last two years.
"We desperately need to secure additional funding from the federal government."
Because Loaves and Fishes is a state-based food relief provider, it is unable to access federal funding.
Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer said she had seen firsthand the importance of Loaves and Fishes in Launceston's outer suburbs.
She said she would continue to search for appropriate funding streams to ensure they could cope with an expected increase in demand.
"The government's response to all aspects of COVID-19 has been fluid and if an appropriate funding stream becomes available for Loaves and Fishes I would certainly work to advocate any suitable project model," she said.