CTWD

50% INCREASE IN UK PEOPLE FED BY CHARITY FOODBANKS

61,000 people across the UK received emergency food hand-outs from The Trussell Trust’s charity foodbanks in 2010-11, 50% more than the previous year.

Foodbank recipients are not the homeless; they are low-income working families who hit an unexpected crisis, people made redundant or people experiencing benefits delays.

Foodbanks, which provide a minimum of three days non-perishable food, are opening at an unprecedented rate to meet the high demand for emergency food aid.  In 2011 The Trussell Trust has launched a new foodbank every week taking the total to 141 foodbanks nationwide.

Executive Chairman of The Trussell Trust, Chris Mould, says: “Since 2008, we’ve seen the number of people fed by foodbanks increase by 136%. Recession followed by high unemployment and rising food and fuel prices has had a huge impact.  Foodbank clients are faced with impossible choices between paying the rent and buying food. Parents skip meals or consider crime to feed their children. The shocking truth is that thousands are going hungry in their own homes in 21^st century Britain.”

He adds: “The good news is that more local churches and communities are becoming aware of the hunger on their doorsteps and are partnering with us to start foodbanks and stop people going without food.”

Coventry Foodbank opened in January and has already fed over 3,000 people. Project Manager, Gavin Kibble says: “We hugely underestimated the number of people in need of emergency food and have been shocked at the demand since opening. Recently we fed 150 people in just one week, leaving the store room almost bare. We did an urgent local appeal for food donations and also received help from others in the foodbank network that enabled us to meet this unprecedented need.”

57% of children in poverty in the UK live in working households [Joseph Rowntree Foundation].  Many of those helped by foodbanks are in work or struggling after losing their job or business.  For Adrian and Kay, a couple both made redundant when Polestar Foods closed down in Okehampton, ‘the foodbank was a lifesaver.’ They received emergency food for two weeks, helping them to feed their four-year-old daughter until redundancy pay came through.

Trussell Trust foodbanks are run by local churches in partnership with the local community. All food given out is donated by local people and every person in receipt of a food parcel is referred by a frontline care professional such as a doctor or social worker. The Trussell Trust estimates that numbers fed by foodbanks could swell to 500,000 by 2015.