
LAST year, Eaglehawk Community House provided vulnerable residents with over 17,000 ready-to-go meals.
Although coordinator Tracey Clarke hoped the house's busiest times were behind them, she said demand has continued to grow over the past few months.
"We expected a little bit of a lull after Christmas but that wasn't the case at all," she said.
"Basically from the moment we came back to work, we were flooded with people needing support and help."
Ms Clarke said the ending of the JobKeeper payment added to the increase.
"We did see quite an increase once the coronavirus supplements came to an end," she said.
"One of the things that we talked about here internally was how would we actually cope with this increase because we knew it was coming."

Food supplies have been another focus point for the community house.
Ms Clarke said shelves were stripped bare as the community group tried to meet a growing demand.
"It's been a gradual decline in food supply, our suppliers supply us with 30 per cent of what we need each and every week, we do have several suppliers and fundraise to purchase food and other types of items," she said.
"We also get rescue food coming in, so that food has been rescued from supermarkets, farmers or growers that have stock they can't sell which goes to places like Bendigo Foodshare and get disturbed to places like us.
Ms Clarke said there are many ways they assist people with food relief.
"We do that through community meals, emergency relief, the fruit box program, grocery hampers, bread and also our ready-to-go meals," she said.
For us it's about getting food onto the table and if we can do that then we will feel satisfied.
- Eaglehawk Community House coordinator Tracey Clarke
On Thursday, the house received a new delivery of food from Food Bank Victoria.
Ms Clarke said it was amazing to see the delivery come in.
"We have really been struggling and our volunteers have been working extra hours to produce more meals so we have more to be able to distribute to people," she said.
Although demand doesn't appear to be ending, Ms Clarke ensured the community house would continue to help as many people in the community as possible.
"I don't expect to see a decline at all, I think that the demand will stay here," she said.
"For us it's about getting food onto the table and if we can do that then we will feel satisfied."
"The community house made a commitment to our community and especially to our disadvantaged residents three years ago that we would be there to support them however we could.
"We have a responsibility to help and support our more vulnerable people as much as we can."
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