Feed a Family: Food banks 'at breaking point' as cost of living crisis continues
The cost-of-living crisis is driving food banks to "breaking point" with almost 1.3 million emergency parcels given to people in hunger over just six months, a leading charity has said.
The Trussell Trust issued a stark warning after new research showed record-breaking levels of need, with one in five individuals referred to its network now coming from working households.
According to figures from the charity, which provides urgent support to those in poverty, more emergency food parcels were given out during the April to September period than ever before.
Over the last six months, 320,000 people have been forced to turn to food banks for the first time, it added.
Feed a Family:
Nearly 1.3 million food parcels were handed out by food banks in the Trussell Trust's UK network over the same period - almost half a million of which went to children.
This is double the number provided in the same timeframe before the pandemic and a third more than were given out between April and September last year.
Need is now exceeding donations for the first time in the charity's history.
The trust has warned that food banks are now at "breaking point" due to a "tsunami of need" driven by the cost of living crisis, as it called on the Government to provide adequate support in its upcoming budget.
Stafford Foodbank deputy coordinator Kerry McQuillan said it was coping at present, but did worry about what would happen if demand continued to increase.
She said: "Week by week, the numbers are rising in people who come forward to use our service, and our stocks are getting low. We seem to feel we are on a level, but then get a massive flurry of demand for stock.
"I'd like to think we would never reach a stage where we have a problem supplying people as we always find a way, such as our relationships with businesses and our community larder which allows us to add to the food bank.
"There is always that worry that we're going to run low or run out of items, such as recently when we ran low of UHT milk and pasta and we had to muddle through, so we do have a regular struggle to maintain the levels of stock at times."
Emma Revie, chief executive at the Trussell Trust, said: "These new statistics show that, even in summer months, people are struggling to afford the essentials and we are expecting that this winter will be the hardest yet for food banks and the people they support. This is not right."
She added: "We are calling for the Prime Minister to act decisively in next week's budget. We urge the UK government to realise their commitment of supporting people on the lowest income with a broad package of support.
"As well as ensuring that benefits rise with inflation as soon as possible, this must go further to close the gap between price rises and incomes over the winter."
The Express & Star Feed a Family campaign is working to help organisations like the Trussell Trust by asking the public to donate essential items such as food and household utilities to food banks across the region.
