25 Dec 2012

Money is tight for many - Sallies

3:01 pm on 25 December 2012

The Salvation Army in Wellington says the high number of people lining up for a free meal on Christmas Day highlights how bad the financial situation is for many people in New Zealand.

It prepared about 130 free meals on Tuesday and is delivering around 60 hampers around the city.

More than 2000 people attended a free meal at the Auckland City Mission and around 650 people did the same in Christchurch.

Salvation Army Wellington centre director Dale McFarlane said most of these people don't have enough money to prepare a Christmas meal and others have no one else they can share the day with.

She said it's not fair that some people would miss out on celebrating Christmas with good food and company, if free meals were not provided.