West Belfast food bank prepares for 'toughest winter yet'

A Northern Ireland food bank has said it is now distributing over 500 food parcels each week, with the demand for support at its greatest ever.

Foodstock on the Anderstown Road in West Belfast is preparing for the toughest and busiest winter yet and is appealing for community support to be able to continue helping the most vulnerable.

Community Response Manager Paul Doherty, said; "You only have to look around this room to see the impact food poverty is having in Belfast. The scenes here paint a picture of a humanitarian crisis."

"Everyday we have very distressed parents coming to us, feeling guilty about sending their children to school hungry and wondering where dinner is going to come from. The situation in our communities is absolutely shocking."

"It is a very difficult time. We are finding ourselves as a food bank, facilitating breakfast clubs across our city because children face the prospect of going to school with an empty belly. Many people in our community are very isolated at the moment, and are having to choose between heating their home and eating. How long can this go on?"

In the past year, Foodstock has distributed thousands of emergency food parcels with around half going to households with children.

Paul said a vast number of those availing of support are holding down one or more jobs.

"There is an upward trajectory of people who really need help. We are now reaching over 500 households per week. Most of these are families with small children. It is gradually getting worse."

"This is impacting people right across the board. We are finding that people are struggling to pay rent and keep up with mortgage payments and suddenly they are struggling to put food on the table."

Across the UK, food banks are expecting to provide more than one million emergency food parcels between December 2023 and February 2024 – the most parcels ever provided across this period. This equates to an average of one food parcel every eight seconds (11,500 a day) and 7,000 people seeking support each day.

With Christmas right around the corner, Paul said he is worried that demand will outstrip supply. "I am becoming increasingly concerned because people are in real stress now, what is it going to be like during the winter months?"

"We need government to step up. We need Stormont working for the people. I am calling for a robust anti-poverty strategy that pulls people out of this situation. We need to give dignity back to those on the bread line."

"We are seeing so many people impacted and communities are stepping up where government has failed, it is about time government stepped up for people."

Foodstock relies solely on donations from the public. In recent months there has been an outpouring of support from locals as Paul explains; "The community in West Belfast have been absolutely fantastic. The people of this community though many have little to give, very often give all they can."

"It is incredible what we see here every day, very often people turn up to the door and say, What can I do to help?"

"People can come here and donate non perishable food items. They can and volunteer, or even just come see what we do and provide a helping hand."

"As a community lets come together and try to tackle these real issues of poverty in our city right now."

If you would like to donate to Foodstock you can call into the Community Solidarity Hub at 150 Andersonstown Road, BT11 9BY

• #food
• foodbank
• food poverty
• poverty