Of the multitude of organisations working with families in poverty spoken with, they all agree that issues are getting more complex and a family or child doesn't come in with just one need.
It's about connection, community, mentoring, life skills and up-skilling, with Bella Aitken from the Kiwi Family Trust saying that only giving food is like a band aid.
When Matthew Mark's Christchurch City Mission team have a family come in asking for food, they don't just leave it at that.
They sit down with the family and look at why they're needing the service, what's going on in the family, do they need budget help, etc.
This isn't denying that the need for food is real.
"People are having to make decisions of whether to put food on the table or pay the rent," Mathews says.
Mathews says the food families do purchase if often poor quality, negatively impacting the health and well being of families and children.
And the demand for food is growing exponentially.
Jacqui Burrows of He Waka Tapu says they often have a courier van turn up with $300 worth of bread that bakeries donate.
"At the end of the day there'll be nothing - whanau are needing it," Burrows says.
Cathy Richardson thinks it's wrong when two parents are working but they can't afford to feed their family well.
It may be another story for another day, but she believes vulnerable people are being targeted when it comes to cheap, accessible food.
"It's horrendous – a family can buy a bottle of fizzy drink cheaper than milk," Richardson says.
And Sandra Talbot from Home and Family agrees: “Why would you buy healthy food or grow it when you can go to McDonald's and get a $2 burger? Why can't you get a $2 salad in McDonald’s?”
Talbot believes choosing to buy junk food is caused by people having missing out on foundational life skills in their own childhood, and further proves the need for basic education and support.