Food Alliance needs help to meet demand

The Torbay Food Alliance, which was set up at the start of the pandemic, is now giving out 7,000 meals a week and warn demand keeps rising.

Since March 2020 the various charities involved in the scheme have provided 570,000 meals at an average cost of 83p each.

Yesterday The Chancellor, in his budget, announced tax cuts for businesses, extra cash for hospitals, a softening of the cut to Universal Credit and a freeze for fuel duty as the nation recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of the headlines was the £2.2 billion package of Universal Credit reforms, allowing claimants to keep more of the benefit if they earn more from work.

But Catherine Fritz from the food alliance said more help was needed, adding: "We have people coming to the helpline and to food banks for the first time even in their lives.

"They may have come off furlough, they may have got Universal Credit and lost the £20 uplift. They're facing increased food bills. they're facing increased costs across the board and some of them don't have the work they used to have.

"Even those who do, the money doesn't go as far as it used to and some are actually shocked that they're in a situation where they can't put food on the table and they're having to turn to a food bank.

"We're having this across all the members of the food alliance, are seeing people who are in a sort of state of shock, it's like shell shock - how have I found myself in this situation?"

This week the alliance launched an urgent public appeal for help for donations of both money and food 'for the predicted crisis with food collection points set up across the bay'.

Spokesperson David Gledhill said: "Unfortunately, we are preparing for the worst; the combination of factors will hit the poorest hardest.

"People were already struggling before this because it is cheaper to live indoors in Summer than it is when children go back to school and the heating goes on in Autumn.

"No-one puts themselves in this position on purpose and a lot of people are finding themselves unable to put food on the family table for the first time in their lives. These are exceptional times.

"As a result, we urgently need communities to step up to help their own, whether that be through donations on our Crowdfunder page or by putting food into collection bins whilst doing their weekly supermarket shop."

For more about the support services on offer call the Torbay Community Helpline on 01803 446022

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