Norfolk foodbank spending £1,000 a week- to keep up with rising demand
Norfolk's Olivia Coleman and others have urging the Government to fund free school meals for every primary school pupil in England
A foodbank in Norfolk is telling us they're now spending around one thousand pounds a week- to ensure they don't run out of supplies.
Norfolk's Olivia Coleman and others wrote to the Prime Minister, urging him to fund free school meals for every primary school pupil in England.
Scotland and Wales - an recently London - have extended free school meal schemes to all primary-age children.
The letter, organised by the National Education Union, says child hunger has become an epidemic.
"It's going to cause a lot of people a lot of worry"
Helen Gilbert is project manager at King's Lynn foodbank:
"Going into the winter where we going to be spending more on energy, lighting and heating- this is a big problem- and it's going to cause a lot of people a lot of worry.
"It's also going to cause me a lot of worry as I try and figure out how we feed the number of people we will inevitably see"
"We are already seeing new people, new families- coming to the foodbank. We are seeing this in greater numbers than ever before.
"We are also seeing a lot more people who work for a living and don't get benefits. These people wouldn't be eligible for their children to have free school meals, currently"
"Our numbers are just ridiculously high"
"Food banks across the county are seeing this. We are all spending a large amount of our finances on food.
"At King's Lynn we are spending about a thousand pounds a week, just to keep our supplies up to a sufficient level.
"Last month we fed 15% more people than we did in the previous September. But that was 84% up on pre-cost of living crisis.
"Our numbers are just ridiculously high, at the moment. So something really does need to be done".