When he announced the election date earlier in the week, Prime Minister Bill English said that the election would be about "growth". but in Palmerston North, the only "growth" we're seeing is a massive growth in foodbank demand:
Palmerston North free food store Just Zilch is dealing with unprecedented demand as almost 300 people stop in daily.
Since reopening in January after the Christmas - New Year break, the store's founder Rebecca Culver said they'd noticed an increase in people from all walks of life through the doors.
"The average has crept up to just over 200 a day. Some days we're dealing with 260 - 270 people. On Monday there were 264. It's crazy - numbers that we've never experienced before," Culver said.
This is what National's "growth" means in practice: people too poor to eat queuing hours for free food. But I guess they just don't see that in Karori.
