Demand for Fenland food bank 'nowhere near peak', says manager
Nearly three million food parcels were handed out in UK last year
A food bank manager in March believes it is “nowhere near the peak” despite a rise in demand.
Figures from the Trussell Trust charity found nearly three-million emergency food parcels have been handed out at food banks in the year to March, which is a record.
In Fenland, 8,827 food parcels were distributed between April 1, 2022 and March 31 this year compared to 4,741 for the previous 12-month period.
Becky Cooper, manager at March Foodbank, said that just in the last six to eight weeks, parcel numbers have doubled.
“We’ve gone from 12 to 14 parcels a week, to 28 to 30,” she said.
“Demand has increased and I can see it increasing twice, four times; we’re nowhere near the peak of this crisis, so we need all the donations that we can get.
“Looking at utility bills, we know the cap is going to increase, utility prices will go up which will have an impact on the cost of provisions, like shopping.”
"We see tears here, but it's tears of joy"
From April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, 5,138 food parcels were distributed to adults which is nearly double the number for the previous 12 months.
Meanwhile, the number of food parcels for children reached almost 3,700 compared to 1,914 between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.
March Food Bank, based at the Centenary Baptist Church on High Street, has around 24 volunteers and takes in around 250kg of food a week, even though it is giving out between 300-400kg of food.
Becky believes that it is not just food that residents in need are worried about in the Fens.
“We’re in a very rural area, so people struggle to get things so having to pay for transport, so they have to think do I pay for my transport or heat my home,” she added.
“People are in need, but are so thankful for us.
“We see tears here, but they’re not always sadness; it’s tears of joy because there’s been somebody here to help them.”
Other parts of Cambridgeshire have also seen increases in the number of food parcels distributed from March 31 last year.
A total of 2,986,203 emergency food parcels were given out between April 2022 and March this year - the most parcels food banks in the charity's UK-wide network have ever distributed in a single year.]
MP Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, said the "devastating" increase in emergency food parcels is the "price families are paying for 13 years of Tory economic failure".
A Government spokesperson said it is committed to "eradicating poverty and we recognise the pressures of the rising cost of living.
“This is why we have uprated benefits by 10.1% as well as making an unprecedented increase to the National Living Wage this month.
"We are also providing record levels of direct financial support for the most vulnerable - £1,200 last year and a further £1,350 in 2023-24 - while the Household Support Fund is helping people with essential costs."