Tracey Moss is praying that a desperate call for funding to help provide food relief will be answered when the state budget is handed down on Tuesday.
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If not, one of Bendigo's biggest sources of food assistance is likely to drop those services, she said.
The manager of both Eaglehawk and Kangaroo Flat community houses, Ms Moss has seen demand for the centres' services increase dramatically over the past five to seven years.
The number of people tapping into assistance at Eaglehawk last year climbing to nearly 28,000 with a significant proportion interacting with food programs.
"It's because of the housing crisis and the cost of living crisis that we're still seeing such high numbers connecting with the community house," Ms Moss said.
"People come to us from as far away as Pyramid Hill, Rochester and Kerang."
"We are now at a desperate stage, having to decide whether to continue our food assistance programs or to cease due to lack of funding."
If that were to happen, it wouldn't just be the food but also "the activities and programs around that food" that would be lost.
People found sleeping outside the centre
In recent times, staff and volunteers at the long-running neighbourhood house had found people sleeping under the trees outside the centre waiting for it to open.
"They came back to the community house because they felt safe and knew we would help them," Ms Moss said.
It was a place where people knew they could "charge their phones, get a meal, a chat, a hot cuppa and some respite".
She had also encountered a couple who spent the night in the centre's cubby house and another couple, evicted from their farm and living in a car, who were filling up water drums and reluctantly accepted a meal.
There are 80 volunteers at Eaglehawk who are providing around 600 meals a week through both a sit-down community meal on Tuesdays and a program which sees bulk meals prepared and divvied up into takeaway and volunteer-delivered containers.
This service, for people in need, has continued since it was set up during COVID-19 lockdowns.
The centre also operates a food pantry and offers free fresh fruit and vegetables one day a week.
"We are now the third-largest food distribution agency in Greater Bendigo," Ms Moss said.
Despite its important role as a frontline service, the centre doesn't receive emergency relief funding for it.
And the food it dispenses comes at a cost, with organisations like Foodbank charging for transport and storage of the items they supply, and many other costs in the mix.
Houses $5 million in the red due to food help
According to peak body Neighbourhood Houses Victoria, Eaglehawk is far from alone in its struggle.
The organisation's CEO, Keir Paterson, says most of the state's more than 200 neighbourhood houses - and three-quarters of those in rural areas - were responding to the needs of their communities by providing emergency food relief.
However, with funding not covering food distribution costs, many were doing so at a loss, and were wracking up a combined deficit of almost $5 million a year.
Neighbourhood Houses Victoria is calling for this year's state budget to cover $2.5 million of that cost.
According to Ms Moss, the problem is an existential one for Eaglehawk Community House.
While it has managed to keep pace with rising need despite very little funding support it posted a loss last financial year due to the "enormous costs" of its food programs.
"We simply cannot afford to have this happen again, not at the cost of the community house."
