The annual Christmas St. Vincent de Paul Appeal begins today with the society expecting over a quarter of a million calls for assistance this year.
The charity revealed they recorded 230 thousand requests last year and they expect to exceed that record in the run up to Christmas day.
The society say with the cost of living crisis, those hardest hit will be one parent-families, low-income workers; households on fixed social welfare incomes; low-income households in rural areas; and people with disabilities and their carers.
National SVP President Rose McGowan says families are wondering how they will manage:
"The calls that we're receiving, not just throughout the year, but now as people are wondering am I going to manage Christmas. While people might say there's other things besides Christmas, and that's true, the families and the individuals we're dealing with... like, if you have children, everybody wants to give their children a really good Christmas".
