Kettle boxes, queues outside the door and eating cold beans - crisis at food banks as demand reaches record high
The number of emergency food parcels handed out to hungry families across Greater Manchester has almost doubled in the last five years.
Help from the Government in the form of the Cost of Living Payments did result in a temporary dip in need for food banks, the charity said, but the organisation criticised the short-term nature of support. “To ask families on low incomes, in low paid jobs or on benefits to have to deal with all these extra elements has led to queues outside the foodbank every time we open. We had a session this morning in Heald Green and there were 12 people queuing outside the door straight away. They are now in a situation where they need to get the food so they can cook it and eat it as soon as possible.”
Nigel was instrumental in setting up the first foodbank in Stockport in 2012. In those early days he says single men and mums were the most common customers. Today he says almost anyone from any background can be vulnerable and in need of help. “It can be very harrowing,” Nigel says. “You can come into the foodbank in the morning with a smile on your face and by the end of the session you think ‘goodness, all these people in these difficult situations’. You often think ‘there but for the grace of god go I’.
Emma Revie, the trust’s chief executive, says the latest figures are ‘extremely concerning and show that an increasing number of people are being left with no option but to turn to charitable, volunteer-run organisations to get by and this is not right’.
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