David Nicholls went from being a fully independent worker to relying on charity for his groceries and there is an increasing number of people like him.
Mr Nicholls was only a few weeks old when he came to the Northern Territory as an orphan in 1964.
He grew up in Adelaide River and was an apprentice motor trimmer, then worked at an aviation company — until he had to be medicated for paranoid schizophrenia.
"I hear a lot of voices," Mr Nicholls said.
"If I get stressed, my voices get louder and louder.
"So it's very hard to do any work."
Mr Nicholls has relied on Foodbank NT to keep food in his belly for the past eight years.
"Without Foodbank, I'd be skipping meals and going hungry," he said.
"The bills would be piling up.
"I'd be in dire straits. I'd be in a really dark, bad place."
Putting food in bellies
Mr Nicholls lives on about $700 a fortnight from Centrelink, minus bills and the cost of rent for his Gray unit.
He says the rising living costs are adding further pressure to his tight budget but is grateful for food relief.
"Inflation is just killing me at the moment," he said.
"You go to Foodbank, you can get $150 worth of food for about $40."
Mr Nicholls said he didn't always get what he wanted through the food relief agency, but always got what he needed.
"It's going to save a lot of lives," he said.
"It's going to put food in our bellies of people that are doing it tough.
"You can't do better than food."
Busiest period ahead
Foodbank NT feeds people like Mr Nicholls but also provides food to schools and charities across the Territory.
Working at the agency was destiny for warehouse manager Mark Robertson.
In a former life, he worked at the recycling centre of the Top End's public dump, Shoal Bay Waste Management Facility.
"Before places like Foodbank existed, I used to watch all the food — there was nothing wrong with the food itself — come out the back of a truck, get dumped on the ground, and bulldozers used to run over it," he said.
"Now, thankfully, we have places like this where the food actually gets rescued.
"It gets put out and it actually feeds vulnerable Territorians."
Mr Robertson and his colleagues prepare food for about 1,800 people a day, a number that has increased steadily in recent years.
"We are approaching the busiest period," he said.
"We're finding a lot of more people now, sadly, are suffering food insecurity.
"It's great that we can actually step in and assist."
Food is sourced via Foodbank nationally, but also locally from supermarkets and food outlets.
And it's not just food — toys, books, clothes, toiletries and other items are also occasionally in stock.
Mr Robertson says the food items that do — or don't — arrive in the agency's warehouse can make life interesting.
"You never know what's going to turn up," he said.
"Sometimes it's a supply chain. Sometimes it's a surprise chain. We get wide and varied [deliveries]."
Foodbank NT is the chosen charity for the ABC NT Gives campaign 2022, with a goal of raising $50,000 this Christmas.
