Salisbury Foodbank in need of donations as demand continues to rise
More people in desperate need are turning to the charity
Last updated 4th May 2022
There's a plea for people to donate food items to Salisbury Foodbank, as they have seen a drop in the amount they've been receiving.
This isn't uncommon at this time of the year, however they're seeing an unprecedented rise in the number of people needing their service.
It means their stocks are running low and they're in need of support, so they can continue to help those in need.
Foodbank manager Maria Stevenson said:
"Since the beginning of the year, we're about 1.3 tonnes behind where we should be and that's depleting our stocks. It's the general historic thing that happens at this time of year in terms of our donations drop. But what isn't historic is our demand going up and we're seeing that more and more each month, we're feeding more people.
"So the end of autumn running into Christmas, we have more and more food donated to us and then at the tail end of the year or the beginning of the new year, stock usually tails off. So that trend isn't too worrying for us. However, our demand would usually follow the same pattern as it will come down towards the spring, summer time and then creep up again at the end of summer towards autumn and winter. But we're now feeding over 500 people per month and that has grown through January, February, March and April."
Last week, the Trussell Trust told us that between April 1st 2021 and March 31st 2022, 11,301 emergency food parcels were given out to adults and children in Wiltshire.
That's up from 11,064 the 12 months before.
There's also been a big national increase, with 14% more food parcels distributed in the last year.
Maria added that it's important people aren't too scared to ask for help:
"We want to make sure that we're accessible to every single person that needs that support, whether they are young or old and the older clientele is something that worries me. How many older people are out there that don't ask for help? How many people might be listening and think, do you know what I'm really struggling, but my pride is so much that I can't reach out for help.
Please do give, give your GP a call, phone up citizen advice, there are people out there that can help you if you're looking in your cupboard and you think I really don't know where I can get my next meal from."