A record number of households are predicted to need help from foodbanks across Lincolnshire and Newark this winter
That's been suggested by a leading foodbank charity, the Trussell Trust.
A foodbank charity which operates across Lincolnshire and Newark is predicting there will be unprecedented demand for food parcels this winter.
The Trussell Trust is expecting to need to help a record number of households.
Amy Colley is the Foodbank CoOrdinator at Acts Trust which focuses on ending poverty in Lincoln. She says demand is already starting to increase:
"So we've always seen a mixture, and a variety of people use the food bank. We're all, only a couple of pay-checks away from needing to use a food bank, and that's always been the case. However, because of the circumstances; the knock on effect from COVID, the knock on effect from the cost of living crisis and everything going up...
"It means, you know, people from all walks of life, quite a lot of people who are in work, lots of people contacting us, saying 'we've never been before, we don't know what to do, we don't know where to start, what's the process?' but also, people saying 'I'm really embarrassed of having to be here' because they've just never thought that they'd find themselves in that situation.
"Even just in Lincoln there's one in four children who live on or below the poverty line, and it doesn't mean they're going to bed hungry every night. But it does mean if there's an unexpected bill or loss of earnings in some kind of way, in some form, that they really are - it's a very, very real thing."
Food banks across the Trussell Trust network are expecting to provide more than one million emergency food parcels between December 2023 and February 2024 – the most parcels ever provided across this period. This equates to an average of one food parcel every eight seconds (11,500 a day) and 7,000 people seeking support each day.
Between December and February last year, these food banks supported more than 220,000 children with emergency food, and 225,000 people who needed to use a food bank for the first time but it is anticipated these numbers will be even higher this year.
Food banks are calling on people in their local communities to donate, if they can, to ensure that they can continue to support everyone who needs their help.
Amy says that demand is unprecedented:
"It peaked in spring this year actually, and what normally happens is, we do see from October to January a rise in people needing to use food banks, and then it drops off, kind of springtime, as it gets warmer, as people kind of settle back down from that winter period.
"However, the last couple of years, it's really peaked at Christmas, and then continued to peak as well and continue to grow and grow. So that's what I'm anticipating for this year as well.
"So we're seeing more referrals come through to the food Bank at the moment. I think so far this year, we've helped just under 9000 people, but so it will be well over 12 or 13 thousand.by the end of the year."
A recent survey of 282 food banks indicated that in the last three months 93% had to purchase food, at a time when prices are higher than ever, in order to keep up with the rising levels of need. These pressures have also led to one in three (32%) food banks reporting that they are concerned about being able to continue running at their current level in the coming months.
Despite these challenges, food banks in the Trussell Trust network are committed to doing all they can to help people in these challenging times but are having to adapt their operations in new ways in order to meet this challenge.
Emma Revie, Chief Executive of the Trussell Trust, said:
“We don’t want to spend every winter saying things at food banks are getting worse, but they are. Food banks are not the answer in the long term, but while we continue to fight for the change that could mean they can be closed for good your local food bank urgently needs your support.
“They need donations of food for emergency parcels, and money to fund costs such as the purchasing of food to meet the shortfall in donations they are currently experiencing.
“One in seven people in the UK face hunger because they don’t have enough money to live on. That’s not the kind of society we want to live in, and we won’t stand by and let this continue. Every year we are seeing more and more people needing food banks, and that is just not right.”
“Together, we have roots into hundreds of communities, and while someone facing hunger can’t change the structural issues driving the need for food banks on their own, thousands of us coming together can. We must end hunger across the UK so that no one needs a food bank to survive.”
Find out more from the Trussell Trust, and how you can support the Acts Trust foodbank.