Nearly 50,000 food parcels handed out in West Midlands as numbers visiting foodbanks at 'worryingly high levels'
More than 48,000 food parcels were given out to people in crisis in the West Midlands from April to September.
Trussell Trust handed out the three-day supply packages to a total of 48,055 people.
More than 3,500 parcels were given out in Smethwick, Quinton and Oldbury alone. In Oldbury and Quinton, 561 were distributed, while in Smethwick, 2,030 went to adults and 1,269 to children. The trust, which runs a network of 425 foodbanks across the UK, said that the number of people needing emergency food remains a concern.
UK foodbank director, Adrian Curtis said: "Latest foodbank figures are still at worryingly high levels.
"We look forward to the day that we can announce a decrease in numbers needing foodbanks, and we welcome the fact that latest national figures show a less dramatic rise.
"Whilst we hope that this is a sign that economic recovery is giving more people access to secure work, several foodbanks are reporting that some agencies and charities who would normally refer people in crisis to foodbanks have been unable to do so because funding reductions have caused their services to be squeezed or closed."
The latest figures show that nationally, foodbanks in the Trussell Trust network provided 506,369 three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis between April and September, compared to 492,641 people in the same period last year. On average, people needed 1.7 foodbank referrals in this six-month period.
The charity runs a network of 425 foodbanks across the UK, with 13 of those based in the West Midlands – covering Birmingham Central, Great Barr, Quinton and Oldbury and Smethwick.
Trussell Trust CEO David McAuley, added: 'We are investing in additional services at foodbanks that help people to break out of crisis faster, and we're seeing really positive results from this. But responsibility for helping people out of crisis must not rest with the voluntary sector alone."
