West Norfolk foodbank says demand continuing to outstrip donations as 2024 gets underway
The foodbank say they currently have 15 and a half tonnes in their warehouse, despite them feeding less people this December
A foodbank in West Norfolk says demand is continuing to outstrip donations, as 2024 gets underway with a colder start.
After unseasonal warm weather meant more people could keep their heating turned off.
But with January’s cold snap arriving, they’re now struggling to keep up with the demand for food.
The foodbank say they currently have 15 and a half tonnes in their warehouse, despite them feeding less people this December, compared to the same month in 2022.
"It’s causing people to struggle a little bit more"
Helen Gilbert is from King's Lynn Foodbank:
“We were anticipating numbers nearing 900-1000 people in December but we didn’t find that.
“We actually had a decrease, so we’ve fed 687 people during December which was lower than expected.
“To put that into context, that’s still 67% above the pre-cost-of-living average that we would feed.
“This cold spell is forcing more people to use more energy and therefore it’s causing people to struggle a little bit more.
“It shouldn’t be necessary to have a food bank in 2024”
“Our warehouse is looking a lot emptier than I would normally expect it to at this time of year. We had a lot of donations in the run up to Christmas.
“But unfortunately the demand is such that it’s not keeping up with those donations, so we’re still purchasing food as we have since March last year.
“I don’t want to be in a job, I shouldn’t be.
“It shouldn’t be necessary to have a food bank in 2024 and all food banks across the region are working really hard to try and put ourselves out of business”.